How I tamed digital glare.
There was a fella way back in the Eighties who made an inline filter that was meant for that. There was a passive version with a bunch of small inductors and an active version. It pretty much worked. I got a schematic and built a passive for myself. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of the guy nor the gadget. I do know that he died early in the game. |
I pulled up the output trode in my dac. That is, instead of seating the 5670 at the very bottom of the socket, I seated it approx. 3/16" higher in the socket. I did a double take. So I returned the tube to the fully seated position, resulting in a return to distinct vocal glare. Now I know the tube pins are thourougly clean and the dac brand new (I clean tube sockets routinely as well). Hmmm..I wonder it I was experiencing micro-arcing at the pin tips. Soemtimes it's the little things. The difffernce we equivalent to replacing an interconnect. And a lot cheaper. |
Nonoise - I just went back and listened to two older Diana Krall albums via Tidal HiFi that are MQA - the clarity and detail are amazing. The stand up bass is tight and full. I cannot thank you guys on the Agon boards enough. My Maggie’s have never sounded better - and the cost is minimal! Happy Listening! i now need sleep tom8999 |
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There is no simple answer. There are a great many reasons why someone hears glare, or thinks the sound is too hot, or too grainy, or too lean, or lacks air or sweetness. I’ve already given my top 2 reasons nobody ever heard of - the inherent vibration of the CD whilst spinning and scattered laser light. It’s like night and day. That’s kind of why advanced audiophiles have taken to the streets and developed all manner of room treatments, resonators, CD treatments, cd transport dampers, Tube dampers, isolation stands, green pens, purple pens, dampers for printed circuit boards, graphene fuses, Quantum this and quantum that, directional fuses and cables. The whole nine yards, it doesn’t take a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. |
I ran out of digital inputs on my DAC, when I added a second streaming device. I use my CD player infrequently, so I went back to the analog output on the player. I noticed that I lost a bit of detail and depth, but the sound was less fatiguing with a little less glare. Kinda backwards technologically, but the on board DAC of my 20 year old CD player was pretty good for it's time. |
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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. " Sunglasses also work although I have seen a few times when only a Miller auto darkening lens was sufficient. I also have had to quit listening to some songs like "Here Comes The Sun" because it was way to bright. Sun Ra was a band I had to quit playing because of this. Overbearing digital glare can be a combination of many things and so are the fixes. |
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kosst_amojan:09pm @cleedsPlease direct your complaints to the moderators. |
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I've been dealing with "Digital Glare" since 1985 and tried Green Markers, Disc Mats, Armor All you name it. I have owned more Disc players and DAC than I can or want to remember. The following is what's worked the best for Me: Ripping all my Disc to a computer and using iTunes and it's digital Equalizer, then into a DAC. 2nd and near as good as the eq is my Esoteric DV-50 with it's up sampling and filter features. That said, some folks get there shorts knotted just thinking about Eq's, I used too but a wise old Man told me, It's your music listen to it any darn way you want, you paid for it. |
@high-amp I only use a single one. All of my gears are connected to a single line through a ZeroSurge 10 outlet plus a six outlet power cord. The Defender is in the six outlet extension. I tried to add an AC ipurifier but returned it as it didn’t add anything to the equation. I guess you can try multiple and remove one at a time to see if you lose any benefit. Nothing to lose as you can always return them. |
Talk about projection. No one is doing what you accuse them of. No one said "perfect sound forever." The only embracing done is by those who dislike an opposing view. The premises drawn are just a straw man argument meant to deflect by attributing views and stands that no one proffered. My CDP may make a mistake, or miss step, now and again but is it big enough to hear? Does it detract from the enjoyment. No, to both questions. Now, compare that to computer audio where there's so much networking involved and any small change in software and/or hardware can and will elicit an equally large change, for better or worse, in the resultant sound. There's still lots to work out and it's evident by the reviews and anecdotal evidence of those who've tried out better transports and came away with the opinion that's it's just as good, or better, than lots of the high end, expensive computer rigs out there. This hobby is based on subjective listening and evaluation and to unequivocally state that one can't or shouldn't hear what they're hearing is just, plain, silly. All the best, Nonoise |
geoffkait “Perfect Sound Forever.” Apparently there are quite a few people who swallowed the marketing slogan ...It's actually worse than that. They not only believe and embrace the slogan, but they have built a whole belief system using the slogan as the foundation. Any information that conflicts with the slogan is dismissed with the wave of a hand, or with an insult - as demonstrated by some of the deleted posts in this thread. It's unfortunate, because it could be useful to have conversations about this is certain threads, such as this one. But there are ideologues here, so it seems it never ends well. |
spenva, how many Shunyata Defenders (SD) do you need? One for each outlet that has audio gear plugged into? In my case, I have powered speakers, so one each for them as well? Or would it be one per household circuit? I also run all my power cords to a Furman 15pfi power conditioner, so should I plug a SD into the back of it as well? |
@pmboyd i have the Shunyata Defender and love it. Best 200 bucks I have spent in my system. Give it a try with confidence, you can always return it if it doesn’t work wonders in your setup. |
stringreen I have an Ayre C5xemp....ain’t no digital glare Are we to assume all of your previous ones did? 😬 |
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I believe there has to be a "perfect storm" of sorts for everything that can go wrong does. And when it does, just get another and better made CDP. What I hear from my Marantz SA15S2b is nothing to sneeze at. It's some of the most sublime music I've heard. Audio shows that use computer or streaming audio never won me over. It all sounded like really good to just okay FM. It spanned the gamut from edgy and shrill to milquetoast. Successfully getting music to play seemed to be the great accomplishment, not the quality. It's kind of like you too can be your own DJ/radio host and tinker with all the settings and lose the forest for the trees with the forest being the music and the enjoyment you get and the trees that distract you being the hardware. I'm just too old skool as for me it's plop it and play it. The only computer rig that floored me was an MSB demo that turned out to be their CD player playing in their system. Vince Galbo just smiled when he told me after I said it was the best computer audio I've heard. With new CD sleds out there like the Blue Tiger, CD is far from dead. They claim they can get more data in a more secure way to pass it down/out to the DAC. We don't have to rely on older tech and a diminishing supply of good quality sleds. All the best, Nonoise |
