The Cure’s Best-Sounding Songs for Headphone Testing

The Best Cure songs to test headphones with

Few bands are as useful for headphone testing as The Cure. Their catalog spans minimal post-punk, lush dream pop, dense gothic walls of sound, and intimate ballads, often within the same album. That variety makes their music ideal for testing everything from soundstage and imaging to midrange tonality and treble smoothness. Below is a track-by-track audiophile guide, using your selected songs, each structured for repeatable headphone evaluation.

What Makes The Cure’s Discography Great For Headphone Testing?

There are a lot of artists you can make a list like this for, but I’ve chosen the Cure not only because they’re one of my favorite bands, but their catalog perfectly exemplifies what I find important when assessing a headphone’s quality. Their discography is full of unique sonic textures that can tell you a lot about what your headphones are capable of, whether it’s the minimal post-punk sounds from albums like “Faith” and “Seventeen Seconds,” or the dense, immersive layering of “Disintegration.”

You’re never just testing one aspect of your headphones. Sonic properties like scale, precision, bass articulation, midrange timbre, treble smoothness, and dynamic interplay can all be tested on a single track. The Cure’s production and mixing technique is usually based around the contrast between bassline grooves, shimmery guitars, and lush ambient soundscapes soaked in reverb. These elements can help you determine qualities like separation ability and spatial realism. Can your headphones faithfully reproduce these qualities, or do they collapse into a blur? A song by The Cure can be like a full-spectrum stress test that can demonstrate a headphone’s technical performance as well as more emotional qualities, which is hard for a lot of artists to match.

1. Close To Me

This is The Cure’s purest headphone-testing song in their catalog, almost demanding that you pay attention to its intrinsic detail. They make it pretty easy for you, as the song concentrates on instruments that are deliberately boxed in to an enclosed space. Everything in the track is literally close to you, with its claustrophobic precision and Robert Smith’s dry vocals. The sparse brass accents also add a sense of intimacy. This would make Close To Me a better selection for testing closed-back headphones than open-back ones, since you’re not really testing soundstage here.

Making sure your headphones can accurately reproduce that intended closeness is key to assessing midrange performance. Vocals should have a good proximity to you, and they should sit in a place where they stand just above the percussion, showing good separation. Just because the space is confined doesn’t mean that everything should congeal together. Some headphones will do that, though, making this track feel congested and collapsing the mix into a nasally blur.

2. The Kiss

Going from the concentrated intricacy of “Close To Me” to the feedback-drenched sound wall of the opening track of “Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me,” “The Kiss” shows why The Cure has such a rich catalog of songs for headphone testing. The opening moments of this track feature distorted guitars with a heavy kick drum and bass guitar pulse that can really drive itself deep. When met with the track’s synth arrangements, “The Kiss” delivers some truly chaotic layers of sound that you’ll need good headphones to make sense of.

Like “Close To Me,” The Kiss requires headphones with good separation, especially when the mix is considerably denser. One thing that makes The Cure so interesting sonically is how textured their use of distortion is, but if you don’t have the right pair of headphones, that distortion can just become noise. Using The Kiss as a test track is all about revealing those layers, but it’s easy for the track to turn into a harsh fuzz without the right amount of control. Headphones with good bass extension are a huge plus for this track, too, allowing the low end to express the true depth of these instruments.

Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-R50x, Audio-Technica ATH-R70xa, Audio-Technica ADX7000, Beyerdynamic 990 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 1990 MKII, Sivga Luan, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Sennheiser HD 660S2, Audeze LCD-2, Audeze LCD-X, Audeze LCD-5, Meze 109 Pro, Dan Clark Audio Noire X0, Focal Clear MG, Abyss JOAL

3. Fascination Street

Disintegration is a favorite among Cure fans, and why wouldn’t it be? It’s one of the best albums ever made in my opinion, and if you made a list like this strictly with Disintegration tracks, it would be hard to argue. There will definitely be a few more tracks off this album on the list, and I wanted to start with one of the album’s centerpieces: Fascination Street. Like many Cure tracks, you can expect clear layers of thick bass grooves mixed with shimmery guitars on this finely mixed album.

Having a headphone with good low-end resolve is ideal, but what you really want is a sound signature that can really articulate the style of groove this track offers. Bass notes should feel like they have a complete shape, and their movement should be highlighted. The right pair of headphones will give the lows a pulse, but if the tuning is too bloated, the bassline won’t have the right amount of definition. This could also overwhelm the mix, and it can start to mask upper-midrange detail.

4. Plainsong

Sticking with Disintegration, we go to its opening track: Plainsong. A good intro track should set the tone for everything that comes after it, and Plainsong is excellent at that. It creates such a rich atmosphere, painting a picture of sonic textures built on chimes, synth washes, and massive reverb tails. Everything about this combination of sound elements is so wonderfully evocative, and the right pair of headphones will do it all justice. You’ll obviously want a headphone with a wide and engrossing soundstage that can not only provide a good wingspan, but height as well. Treble extension will help with that, doing right by this track’s sense of ambient decay. Those wind chimes are key to painting the track’s soundscape, and they should sound like they’re expanding into space.

The right pair of headphones will make the instruments feel like they are being suspended in a vast environment. A headphone that’s too closed in will collapse the soundscape Plainsong is trying to build, making the instruments sound like they’re being pushed straight from the driver instead of in the open air.

5. Pictures Of You

It would only make sense to go right into the track that follows Plainsong, as it is one of the band’s defining songs. This, of course, means that it’s also an ideal headphone testing track. Those sparkly wind chimes from Plainsong return, which by themselves will test clarity and texture in treble frequencies. Everything about this track should feel like a spacious waft of tone that builds and builds with its combination of layered guitars, synths, and Robert Smith’s delayed vocals. It shouldn’t just feel accurate, but emotive, especially in the midrange.

Headphones with good layering should make these elements appear individualized, but if they don’t also have a good sense of dynamic build-up, the track won’t feel the same. A lot of headphones can handle clinical accuracy, but sacrifice musicality; finding something that is a combination of the two is key to hearing this track right. What’s really important is how these layers of sound arrive in the space. Do the guitars, synths, and vocals have a carved-out space, and do they appear from a specific origin point? It’s easy for some headphones to devolve into a smear when trying to handle this track, mishandling the build-up, and resulting in congestion.

Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-R50x, Audio-Technica ATH-R70xa, Audio-Technica ADX7000, Beyerdynamic 990 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 1990 MKII, Sivga Luan, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Sennheiser HD 660S2, HiFiMAN Ananda Unveiled, HiFiMAN HE1000, HiFiMAN HE1000 Unveiled, Audeze LCD-2, Audeze LCD-X, Audeze LCD-5, Meze 109 Pro, Dan Clark Audio Noire X0, Focal Clear MG, Abyss JOAL, Meze 109 Pro, Meze Empyrean II

6. This Twilight Garden

That’s enough hits for a while, let’s go to a B-side. Coming from the “Wish” era of the band, “This Twilight Garden” is particularly soft and dreamy, with its blend of synth layers and delicate vocal delivery. It’s a particularly warm track, so this track should help reveal that profile in your headphones. It should also reveal how much soundstage depth your headphones are capable of, as one of this track’s unique sonic properties is its atmospheric cohesion. A good headphone will stack these layers front to back and create a full immersive field of sound that drifts around a dome-like stereo environment. Lesser headphones with a weaker soundstage will make this track appear flat and linear.

Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-R50x, Audio-Technica ATH-R70xa, Audio-Technica ADX7000, Beyerdynamic 990 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 1990 MKII, Sivga Luan, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Sennheiser HD 660S2, Audeze LCD-2, Audeze LCD-X, Audeze LCD-5, Meze 109 Pro, Dan Clark Audio Noire X0, Focal Clear MG, Abyss JOAL

7. A Forest

Back to the hits, and we’re going with an early one. “A Forest” is one of the more minimal songs they’ve put out, but it features some iconic elements that are ripe for headphone testing. The main element of this track is its bassline, which is almost hypnotic, creating a haunting atmosphere. “A Forest” will test how well your headphones control the low end, especially with such a sparse mix. It will not only test the timbral qualities of the bass, but its placement as well.

This is a good track for testing imaging and how precisely it can nail down instruments in a specific spot. A good set of headphones will make these elements easy to localize in a mix. If this track feels artificially thick, and elements drift around the mix without being locked in to a specific spot in the stereo field, your headphones might not handle those areas well.

Recommended headphone: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Audio-Technica ATH-R50x, Meze 99 Classics V2, Sennheiser HD600, Focal Azurys, Bowers & Wilkins PX8 S2, Dan Clark Audio Noire X

8. The Drowning Man

While not the most typical headphone testing track, “The Drowning Man” has a few key properties that I personally like to evaluate. On first listen, this track will seem literally drowned in a murky reverb that isn’t exactly concerned with revealing instrumental clarity. “The Drowning Man” paints more of an atmosphere, and a lot of Cure tracks already do that with more resolving instruments, but not a lot of them feel as dark tonally. If you want to determine if your headphones have a warm sound profile, this track will easily tell you. How well your headphones can handle dark tonality and thick reverb are important characteristics I value when testing gear, and this track is the most trasparent is deciphering that. Is the headphone immersive? Is it muddy? “The Drowning Man” will easily assess these flavors, revealing whether your headphones are sludgy or dimensional.

Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-M50x, Beyerdynamic DT 770, Beyerdynamic DT 990, Audio-Technica R70xa, HiFiMAN Edition XV, HiFiMAN Edition XS, Sivga P2 Pro, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Meze 105 Silva, HiFiMAN Ananda, Meze 109 Pro

9. Just Like Heaven

You can’t have a list like this without mentioning The Cure’s most beloved songs. It’s a no-brainer that it would also make a killer test track. “Just Like Heaven” is a tightly structured track with a bright melody and beautifully cascading guitars. Listening to this track will help you tell whether or not your headphones have a smooth high-frequency timbre and how energetic the midrange is.

What makes Just Like Heaven a particularly unique track to test is how well your headphones handle transient response. When listening to this track, your headphones will tell you if it has any sense of finesse when trying to articulate notes. Do the notes have a strong impact? Try listening to Just Like Heaven. The guitars should have a particularly fast attack, and they should sustain with a clear shimmer. You should be able to hear a brilliant sparkle, or else the track will be brittle and fatiguing.

Recommended headphones: Audio-Technica ATH-R50x, Audio-Technica ATH-R70xa, Audio-Technica ADX7000, Beyerdynamic 990 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 900 Pro X, Beyerdynamic DT 1990 MKII, Sivga Luan, Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Sennheiser HD 660S2, HiFiMAN Ananda Unveiled, HiFiMAN HE1000, HiFiMAN HE1000 Unveiled, Audeze LCD-2, Audeze LCD-X, Audeze LCD-5, Meze 109 Pro, Dan Clark Audio Noire X0, Focal Clear MG, Abyss JOAL, Meze 109 Pro, Meze Empyrean II

10. And Nothing Is Forever

I wanted to include a track that came on The Cure’s latest record, “Songs of a Lost World.” The album as a whole has a very interesting sonic palette that might come in handy when testing headphones. “And Nothing is Forever” is a track that exemplifies this very well, with its slow and expansive arrangements. It’s a dense track, with multiple layers of ambient sculpting and Robert Smith’s smotive vocals placed on top. The right pair of headphones will make these layers appear cohesive, like a properly scaled sonic structure. The low end should feel extensive and provide a clear weight to the sound signature. Lesser headphones will lose that separation, which is integral for evaluating the band’s expressive tonal identity.

Recommended headphones: Sennheiser HD 600, Sennheiser HD 650, Sennheiser HD 660S2, HiFiMAN Edition XV, HiFiMAN Ananda Nano, HiFiMAN Ananda Unveiled, HiFiMAN Arya, HiFiMAN HE1000, HiFiMAN HE1000 Unveiled, Audeze LCD-2, Audeze LCD-X, Audeze LCD-5, Meze 109 Pro, Dan Clark Audio Noire X0, Focal Clear MG, Abyss JOAL