taming female voice


My system consists of meadowlark kestral 2's a birdland odeon lite dac run through a cheap toshiba transport and a cayin ta-30 integrated tube amp with tube audio design speaker cables and interconnects along with the same powercord. The room demensions are 11.5 wide and 14.5 long with french doors open on the long end the speakers are also firing down the longer part of the room. As far as room treatments go, all I have are some pillows stacked against the walls next to the speakers for side reflection.
My problem is that whenever I play female singers they really seem to zing my ears, that being said I dont listen quietly not stupid loud..about 9-10 o'clock on the dac. Male singers seem to not zing the ears. Please offer suggestions! Thanks
sean34
I would start by changing the source. It may just be too stark. The other issue is definitely listening position and room acoustics. Other than that the system should be sweet.
I've heard this before in three different systems.In all cases it was the speakers all along.It reminds me of the dreaded shout that certain wide range single drivers have.It seemed as though there was a rising impedance at the same time as a rising frequency . I didn't understand this until I heard what a BSC(baffe step correction circuit) does for a driver.Which smooths out the impedance as the frequency rises. All the zing was gone after this.
thankyou all very much for your input, to tell you the truth it never occured to me that it could be the meadowlarks as they are very broken in. I will try another source as the birdland is not the warmest of dacs. Audiokinesis, thanks for the insiteful response, I will try your suggestions...can you tell me who makes good REASONABLE absorbtion panels and what did you mean by diffusion on a wall? Thanks again, Sean.
it depends on what female vocals you're listening to...
i would have a lousy jingle in my ears in any system listening to Celine Dion for example...