It’s the end of the year, and that means that, since you’ve been good, you can all wear casual clothes this Friday and bring in your favourite toy to share with the class. Just make sure you’ve got a label somewhere on your fire engine so we know it's yours.
It also means that it's time to share our favourite test tracks of the year in this rather special edition of our 'Now Playing' column. Each month during 2025, we have brought you the test tracks, new and old, which we feel deserve a place on your testing rotation.
- Listen to our Now Playing playlist on Tidal
The Package by De La Soul
Best known for their loved-up debut 3 Feet High And Rising, New York hip-hop group De La Soul have gone back to their roots with this single off their latest album. And it’s a doozy.
Like their classics The Magic Number and Eye Know, The Package is built around a catchy sample, in this case the chorus from Seven Years by Curtis Mayfield’s group The Impressions. Producer Pete Rock makes the piano loop almost hypnotic, punctuated by that irrepressible horn. Your system will need a good deal of clarity in the midrange to pick up on the finer details of some of the more obscure vocal samples (Cynthy Ruth was a new one on me).
That all said, I’m not sure about the visualiser video that accompanies it on YouTube. It’s all a bit Monty Python – I keep expecting a massive foot to appear and squash it all.
But sonically, The Package is a treat. And that’s what really matters, right?
Words by Joe Svetlik
Blue by Billie Eilish
While there are plenty of single tracks that I’ve been obsessed with this year – Doechhi’s Denial Is A River, Tunng’s Didn’t Know Why, Kendrick Lamar’s They Not Like Us, Marion Black’s Who Knows – there has been an album that I have dipped into every time during testing this year.
No, it’s not KPop Demon Hunters (although that did get a lot of replay); it’s Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft. I got into Eilish a bit late, and I have to credit my colleague Ketan Bharadia for playing Blue during one review, and it has become a staple test track ever since.
The album’s recording is gorgeous: dynamic, polished, intricately layered and intimate. On Blue, there are lush details, hypnotic vocals, and a gripping, rhythmic momentum that deserve to be heard on a great sound system.
Words by Kashfia Kabir
Infinite Source by Deftones
Thre’s a lot of nostalgia for 2000s metal and rock bands right now. Every big festival, from Download to Primavera Sound, seems to have at least a few acts from the era playing the big stage next year.
While even a greybeard millennial who survived them the first time around will admit most of them haven’t aged terribly well, or weren’t very good to begin with, Deftones are a rare exception. So much so that calling their latest album, Private Music, a comeback leaves a sour taste in the mouth.
Always the cerebral card in the 2000s pack, the band has delivered a steady stream of thought-provoking bangers. Each with its famous hypnotic vocals and incredible interlinking guitar parts that create a distinctive “vibe” – one that’s instantly recognisable to any fan, no matter how long it's been since they last visited the band’s work.
This remains the case with its new 2025 album, Private Music, which is fantastic from start to finish. One track in particular stands out to me, though, and has earned a place on my most-played list this year: Infinite Source. Starting with a riff that instantly hooks you in, it mixes elements of the epic and iconic track Minerva with the earlier, heavier work from the band’s self-titled debut album.
The result is a track that feels entirely fresh and accurately conveys singer Chino Moreno’s feelings, celebrating his sobriety while owning and taking responsibility for his chaotic past.
Whether you’re an existing Deftones fan or new to their work, it’s a fantastic song that’s well worth a listen.
Words by Alastair Stevenson
Everything In Its Right Place by Radiohead
This track by Radiohead is undeniably the one I have used the most this year to test out a range of different AV kit. With its ethereal feel and synthy vocals, Everything In Its Right Place properly challenges a sound system from the first few seconds.
The glitchy audio-effects fade in slowly along with a boppy bass track that sounds like something straight of a sci-fi movie and, with a top-quality system, should create a swirling circle of sound around the listener. This is done by the various tracks flitting from one speaker to the other, immediately challenging how well the product can handle organisation and separation.
The chorus ramps this up even more as additional vocal tracks and alien-like buzzing are added to the mix, all layered over the same bass line from the beginning. After this dazzling crescendo, the track simmers down and is stripped to just fading vocals and the synth bass.
It’s a simply exquisite audio experience that makes you feel every note, as well as being a great way to give any sound system a run for its money.
Words by Robyn Quick
From by Bon Iver
I’ve been saving this song in particular for our end of the year test track round-up, because I knew it would be my favourite upon my very first listen.
Cast your mind back to our April edition of Now Playing, and you’ll find that I highlighted Bon Iver’s Walk Home as my top track of the month. In that entry, I implored readers to “keep an ear out for the full album – titled SABLE, fABLE…”. And I’m glad I did, because it turned out to be one of the best records of the year.
The highlight of the album is From, a smooth and melodic track that I’ve had on repeat ever since the album dropped eight months ago. I’ve been listening to it in and out of the test room, and it even soundtracked a week I spent in Tokyo earlier this year.
It features a soulful guitar intro from Mk.Gee (whose album Two Star and the Dream Police I’d also recommend wholeheartedly), which gives way to Justin Vernon’s falsetto vocals that glide across the track with ease.
They’re backed up by harmonies that interject during the chorus, which blend with Vernon’s vocals to create a rich and textured-sounding motif throughout the song. The lyricism in this song is also rather special, with themes of acceptance and personal struggle throughout. “Don’t let it trouble your mind, just take my love in your time” are lines featured in the chorus, and I think they sum things up beautifully.
I’ve played From through a range of headphones, earbuds and speakers, and I find that the most important aspects to convey are a solid sense of timing and spaciousness. Allowing the harmonies to breathe and ensuring the percussion in the background is snappy ensures that the dreamy, airy nature of the song is preserved.
Words by Lewis Empson
Skeletá by Ghost
Before the entire album from which it’s taken was fully released, I selected Ghost’s Satanized as one of my top testing picks back in June. I was fully justified in doing so – it’s been a go to banger in the intervening months for both personal and professional reasons thanks to its campy orchestral feel and ability to tease out your system's rhythmic capabilities.
Since that time, Ghost released the entirety of their 2025 record Skeletá. And, while it doesn’t hit the heights of their previous untouchable effort Impera, it continues to demonstrate a group that is capable of delighting and bemusing in near-equal measure.
Satanized is probably the standout, but there’s fun aplenty to be had courtesy of the catchy peppiness of Peacefield, the overwrought balladry of Guiding Lights and the tongue-in-cheek ridiculousness of Missoula Amori.
Rock ain’t dead, folks, and if it was, you can thank Ghost for its unholy resurrection.
Words by Harry McKerrell
Absolute Monster by Rene Lavice
As I’ve only recently joined What Hi-Fi?, I have been wracking my brain for tracks that I think would be great to use in our testing rooms. This process has taken me back to Absolute Monster, a song I hadn’t heard for about a decade but that still hits as hard as it did when it was released in 2013.
If you fancy putting the depth of your hi-fi’s low-end to the test over the Christmas period, this thumper from Canadian drum and bass artist Rene Lavice is a great way to do so.
Absolute Monster begins with pounding kick drums that almost feel like they bite. This gives you a glimpse of what is to come before a disjointed, almost terror-inducing backdrop slowly builds until you’re swallowed by a tidal wave of dark, dingy noise.
This track could easily be described as audible filth, and a system with plenty of low-end depth will allow you to bask in it. However, that build up to, and eventual crash of, that gloomy wave is an excellent way to test your system’s handling of dynamics and detail, too.
Words by James Cook
As a collective, our review team listens to a lot of music. Sometimes we rely on old favourites with which we're familiar, but we are always discovering new tracks – be they fresh releases or just songs we haven't encountered before – that give us key insights into new products we are trying out.
We also know that plenty of our readers are on the lookout for new tunes, either to assess the capabilities of a new system or simply to show off the full talents of their established hi-fi set-up. That's why we have come up with our monthly 'Now Playing' playlist, a rundown of everything we've been listening to and loving recently, whether at home with a set of headphones or at work in our fabulous test rooms.
Each instalment will bring you a handful of tracks chosen by our reviews team, detailing why we love them and what they bring out of certain products, so even if you're not looking for new tunes to play on your system, we hope you find something you'll love no matter how you choose to listen to it.
We're always on the lookout for new music, so drop a comment below to share what you have been listening to!
MORE:
Read last month's edition: check out the 8 spectacular tracks lighting up our test rooms this month
Check out our ultimate test tracks collection
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
