2. misc-audio
  3. 1237138105

Trade offs?

As I have improved my system the quality of the CD recordings has become more and more obvious; unfortunately poor quality and harsh sounding discs seem to bother me more as the reproduction becomes clearer.
Having recently started using Ultrabit Platinum I find it sustantially improves the sound of better recordings but also reveals the harsness in poor recordings.
This all gets me wondering,on this quiet Sunday morning, if perhaps I'm reaching the end of the line on further upgrades to my Spectral/MIT based system?
For example will a better CD player simply reveal that the quality of the recordings are already the limiting factor in my enjoyment, better Cd players won't provide more enjoyment?
psacanli
plato
1,543 posts
 
You need to do one of two things...

Either start using a nice tube preamp, DAC, or CD player to smooth out the sound and soften the highs, or buy a turntable, cassette deck, or other analog source that doesn't sound harsh.

If the majority of your recordings sound harsh, then it's your system or source component, not your recordings.

BTW, how is the quality of your incoming AC? Do you at least have a good AC line filter or power regenerator?
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plato
1,543 posts
 
I guess I can agree with Tvad that it is possible that the majority of your recordings are poorly recorded.

That said, there is also the possibility that you have poor AC power or a component (even wires) that is making your system sound that way.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to investigate the cause. If it's a particular component, or trashy AC, those things can be addressed. If it's simply the poor quality of your recordings, you can buy some better sounding ones. If nothing is wrong then you can move to tubes or a less resolving system to help soften the harshness.
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