For months I have been trying to eliminate digital glare in the my system, which showed up most noticably in the upper middle frequency vocal range, especially female vocals. I tamed some by replacing the stock fuse in my dac with HifiTuning Supreme Cu
on the sage advice of Chris Van Haus of VH Audio, resulting in a significant improvement in tonal density, detail and clarity. So far, so good. Today I lightly dusted the laser lens in my CEC transport with a microfiber cloth and was astonished to discover a substantial improvement! And the laser lens and drive compartment appeared clean to begin with (in a smoke free environment). I tried cleaning contacts, swapping power cords and interconnects, rolling the tube in my MHDT dac, and so forth, but this simple protocol was more effective than any of those experiments. I suppose results may vary as every system is unique, but for me this simple tweak was revelatory: greater clarity and a signifcant reducton of hash. Wish I had thought of tt in the beginning; it would have saved me considerable time and frustration.
Your complete guide to eliminating digital glare: Paint the insides flat black or even better line with a very flat black fabric. Color CD edges with a black or green marker or paint pen. Clean them with any combination of acrylic cleaners and cloths. Demagnetize em. Put cones, balls, balloons, or a phone book under it, and/or put sand, lead, wood, or whatever on top of it. Use anti-static spray. Play the demagnetizing tracks on the XLO Test CD. Finally, cue up a record. Done.
Try the High Fidelity MC-0.5 power conditioner. I had a bit of glare in the upper mids on strong female vocals, highs, when the volume is increased, piano key strikes, and horns. Fuses are a great way to start but you’ll reap bigger benefits with the MC-0.5. I kid you not.
The best price, if still available, is gained from calling direct and asking about any B-stock availability, which are 40% off retail.
Thanks for the tips. The interior of my CD transport is black. All my components are acoustically isolated. My point is that simply cleaning the laser lens worked a miracle in my case. Virtually no digital hash remains across a broad spectrum of CDs (not counting the poorly mastered).Why didn't I think of this from the get go!
Playing untreated CDs on untreated CD players is like peeing up a rope. If you think you’re hearing all of what’s actually on the disc, believe me, you aren’t. Maybe 50%. That’s if you’re lucky.
An ordinary man has no means of deliverance.
Most people cant think out of the box. They don’t even know there is a box.
Tell me Kosst Try this for headaches! My daughter attending University in Alaska. Comes home for summer break Decides halfway through she wants to go to different Uni. All gear and stuff in Alaska Need to get it all back and sent to new Uni in Florida Kids...…...
Coloring the edge of CDs is so old school. As fate would have it colors affect only the visible part of the spectrum. However, the CD laser wavelength of 780 Nanometers is solidly in the near infrared part of the spectrum - the invisible portion of the spectrum where colors are not (rpt not) effective in absorbing stray scattered laser light. Ironic, huh?
One way that helped me was to throw a heavy blanket over a TV is same room.. The best thing that can happen to a man in this life is to have a good , loving daughter.
Kosst Life is easy enough with my now 19 year old daughter for sure. This is pretty untypical of her but there are good reasons I know. Its all good and easily resolved for sure. It could be a LOT worse!
It is actually "pathetic" that people would come hear to an anonymous audio forum to brag about there children if you can't see how sad that is I feel sorry for you.
Pretty much. The final step that removed it from the discussion in my system were the CAD Ground Control units. Apparently, high frequency noise is the enemy when it comes to digital. Not cheap, but couldn't imagine my system without them.
You may think you’ve tamed distortion and noise in digital playback but you haven’t. Everything is relative. Until you’ve stopped the CD from vibrating and fluttering and have put the kibosh on stray laser light getting into the photodetector you’ve haven’t got more than around 75% of the way there, even after taking many steps. You simply would not believe the information on the disc that you cannot hear.
OK, now I really feel pathetic, since I've Obviously become absolutely deaf. Given that digital source material may be considered a tad 'crisp', I've felt that it may help to compensate for 'elderly high-end roll-off'. But 'glare'?! Fook, I'm happy to be able to discern 'nuance' at all..
kosst_amojan"I'm
flagging your post and I'm sure it'll be gone shortly. If your stereo
is the thing you're most proud of in this world, you really missed out" You are a very sad unfortunate person and you should leave your family values advise somewhere else I don't come hear to be preached to by the trailer park likes of you or brag about my children and find it pathetic that you do it's you're problem if that troubles you and if you have this post deleted, I'll do the same to your bragging.
I agree with you completely. I just thought it should be recognized that one step was made. Not an easy one, I guess. Content and interpersonal communication is next.
This is actually quite interesting a situation that every single one of my posts hear have been deleted while the rest of you continue to attack me without allowing me to respond you have told me everything you think about me except how often you think I should go to church! It is amazing that in the country that supposedly prides itself on Free Speech and the First Amendment you are so quick to delete, eliminate, and forbid anyone to defend themselves you have created an ECHO CHAMBER so that only you're thoughts are allowed and this is why so many people think America is beyond help good luck with you're closed, elitist, self-righteous group where only those who agree with you, look like you, and speak like you are allowed! I am sure this post will also be deleted because it will offend those who like echo chambers are afraid and disgusted by those who do not agree with them! Family Values! Love your children! Don't tell me to love it or leave it because you could not pay me to live in your oppressed nation.
I tamed the digital glare I was hearing when I went from a CD player to a music server. I'm not trying to knock CD players, just saying in my system, files played back through a server sound smoother and more refined with no hardness or glare....that is unless it's on the recording.
@gulpson
I learned that our posts and the posts of the person we were discussing were removed at the request of someone on this thread. I still think anything said in an offensive manor should be removed regardless of how much progress the offender has made in his/her communicating skills.
We know that glare and other types of noise and distortion in CD playback are produced by a number of problems inherent in CD players generally - you know, susceptibility to vibration, the vibration of the CD itself even when the player is isolated, and distortion produced by background scattered laser light getting into the photodetector. I use the word we editorially.
Buffering doesn’t help with the issues I referred to because the buffered data contains the distorted data. Buffering does help with shock, to prevent gross errors (skipping) but doesn’t stop more subtle degradation of the sound. Playing a CD without a cover on the CD may or may not help or exacerbate the scattered light problem. The photodetector bandwidth is rather narrow, but not monochromatic. All CD players are improved by isolating them, I don’t think that’s a big secret.
Nonoise - thanks for the tip on using High Fidelity’s MC 0.5 Power Conditioner to get rid of harsh Highs on vocals, piano strikes and horns at higher volumes. I will let you know how they work in my system. I just got done with multiple improvements in my system (speaker upgrade, IC upgrades, and a new Amp. I got much better mid range detail, but I generated some ‘glare’ at higher volumes as stated above. I will let you know how this turns out.
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