Why Do Some Recordings Sound Great and Others Dead?

@mastering92  ‘Light As a Feather’.  I have it on CD and my iPod, where I’ve listened to it every other day or so for the last 10? years.  On Radio Paradise her voice does not sound very ‘present’, but is lost and muffled, as are the instruments.  On this one, I’m not getting what I expect from past listening.

In ’I Put a Spell On You’ Samantha Fish’s voice shines for the most part, but there are a few portions of the song where the volume recedes so much it sounds like the system is going out.

On the other hand ‘Lullaby’ by Pieta Brown sounds like a very good overall recording, her voice stands out from the instruments, and both her voice and the instruments sound great.

 I tend to listen to music as lower levels.

Recordings are mixed per the studio's speakers. They might agree with yours, they might not.

what @fuzztone said ✔

I don’t know about the other 2, but "light as a feather" is a great song and I’ve heard it many times before.

Her vocals are clear and forward. Her voice peaks quite a bit, but her voice is balanced. Instrumentals take a backseat The track moves at a slow pace, like a light feather falling! Sound character overall is slightly warm. Not too bright.

I agree it’s a great song, so it’s either Radio Paradise or my system that is the weak point.

’’When I Was Older’ by Billie Eilish is a delicate female vocal that sounds great on what I have.  I’ll keep exploring solutions and/or skip songs that don’t sound well.

It’s a common symptom of narrow, but tall peaks in the mid-bass or bass. Clipping them with an EQ/DSP is often the answer.

The reason it affects some recordings but not others is because the peaks are pretty narrow, so many recordings don't trigger the bass node.

While you CAN fix this with a variety of ways, like moving a sub, speakers, bass traps and moving your listening location, these particular symptoms are easy to deal with via DSP. 

Of course, other methods may give overall a better, broader solution.