Is it me or new audio gear is too perfect and give ear fatigue?

What I say sounds great, you may say sucks.

What hurts my ears, you want louder.

It seems what modern medicine knows about

how human hearing works is still in the 10 percentile

group. 

Brightness s common as win audio cables the metals have to settle n the same is especially true for power supplies transformers  capacitors, resistors.

and especially in Loudspeaker Xovers.

Is it me or new audio gear is too perfect and give ear fatigue?

It could well be the listener. I'm finding the lowering of frequencies around 3k makes a difference.

When I am listening to a system I always take an SPL measurement

so I am aware of where the level is. Most times I will have a good idea

where the level is before I take the reading.

Here is where I need some insight.

Sometimes I am guessing too low by 10 dB. That is a lot.

Would that be a sign of a very well setup system or am

I crazy? Seldom do I hear a system that reads lower than

I anticipated.

Thoughts?

I recall my friend Murray Zeligman who designed speakers telling me that it often wasn't frequency response that caused brightness but poor crossover design to the tweeter resulting in ringing in the crossover region.

Another possibility is flat response  all the way out. Dynamic speakers should roll off slowly to compensate for changes in power response. As the dispersion narrows with increasing frequency the energy is concentrated resulting in bright response on flat recordings.

And, of course, there are poorly mastered recordings deliberately made bright to attract attention but that become tiring on well designed speakers.