Mixed Results from My Hifi


Hi all, I'm looking to get a more consistent sound from my system. Some CD's sound great. No complaints, others pretty mediocre. Most Jazz and smaller production CD’s sound wonderful, detailed, airy, all that audiophile stuff. But mass produced pop and rock are almost unlistenable. I call it the “wall of sound” syndrome, compressed, digital, bleah. The latest releases from Sheryl Crow, U2 and Coldplay sound awful (not withstanding anyone’s taste in music).

What can I do to improve the overall sound in my system so I can listen to all of my music? Add tubes, a new DAC?

I’m listening.
hammergjh
Onhwy61 is right. Some CDs do not sound good. Your system is revealing the quality of the CD, not the system. A great system might sound less bad with a poor CD, but you're not going to make a bad recording sound good.
You say your systems has "Glass like clarity, but with a bit of a cold edge."

It sounds like it could use warming up a little to make it a bit more forgiving. This might not require changing components. First, to relieve congestion in the sound you could try pulling the speakers a couple of feet away from the rear walls.

Second, what's the room like ? Are the floors carpeted ? Any big windows ? Soft furnishings ? Too many hard reflective surfaces will tend to accentuate upper frequencies leading to a rather hard sound.
My speakers are pretty close to the walls, on hardwood floors. There is a rug and upholstered furniture in there. Well, yeah, it's my living room. ;-)

I thought tubes might gloss over the sound a little and soften it. No? Tube Dac or Tubed CDP.
A very expensive additional piece of equipment:

The Cello Palatte

This unit, which is often on the used market and is no longer made, allows one to "remaster the CD." Although I can't afford it, it can do wonders for any system. The better the system, the more it can do.

Richard
Hammer,

Changing your system to make great recordings sound OK and poor recording sound OK is possible. It is a compromise that many audiophiles are willing to make in order to enjoy more of there music collection.

I have never had the Krell, B&W's or Rotel in my system, so I'm only going by hearsay. However, I've heard the B&Ws called bright, I've heard Krells called bright and I know the digititis from many CD players is often called bright. You might just have a system that is completely comprised of bright sounding components.

You might consider either adding a more musical or softer CD player, DAC or tube buffer to the system and see if that helps. You could also consider a warm sounding set of cables. These things could be tried for very little money as you could just buy here used and re-sell them if you don't love them.

Personally, I think your speakers might not be the best choice for your setup. If indeed they are bright sounding speakers (as I've often read) and you have hard surfaces in the room and they are close to the wall, they just might not work for all of your musical taste. Mabe a more "musical" or softer sounding speaker would allow you to enjoy more of your collection.

BTW, I once owned a pair of highly regarded monitor speakers that were unlistenable in my room. I have to think it was a matter of room and system synergy that caused them to sound so bad, because they were nearly universally loved by everyone that commented on them. You could have the same scenario.

So, you may want to choose to make your excellent recordings sound merely good and your Horrible recordings sound OK. It's a compromise, but it might be an appropriate one in your case.