Digital Music sounds too bright?


If you feel your digital sound is too bright - I suggest you place a lightweight blanket over your tv screen or computer screen, if you have it placed between your main speakers. I did this and immediately heard a less edgy sound and improved separation between left and right channels.  I have a 55 inch screen between my mains (Tyler Acoustics). This easy and free tweak made a noticeable improvement for me. Hope it will for you too. 

(It makes complete sense that this will reduce some reflected sound. No one would ever recommend placing a mirror or window between main speakers, but a screen has the same effect. If you have a coffee table in front of you when listening, it also could reflect sound that undermines your speakers. Try covering it or moving it away). 
philtangerine
@kalali, not really directly. That audible improvement you hear may be due to more of a difference in the geometry-vs-length-vs-gauge-vs-power load of the new power cord and also, presumably, the better (you could also say "lower noise") quality parts/better, or ’beefier’ power supply circuit design. But, the kind of noise I’m referring to above would be present in your setup either way.

That source of noise is ’baked in’ to every system (even battery powered or "lab grade" power supplied) and it’s a different matter to "shield" wiring than it is (using the AMD method as I have) to reduce, block or eliminate electrical noise both before and after it has had a chance to impact the AV system - that is to say just that (given enough application of treatment) it’s a profound difference in the resulting sonic effects between the two...and how it translates into musical terms. I think that may be the hardest thing for audiophiles to wrap their minds around. Without the actual listening experience to enlighten you, then the natural assumption is that it cannot be that big of an issue, since everyone else’s experience is the same. I’m now one of those people that say that reducing electrical noise wholesale, if you can come across a good method to do that, leads directly to massive improvements across the board in the listening experience. This about the only true "night-and-day" difference in this hobby I’ve yet run across...which is why I sound like a broken record whenever I bring it up, which is relentlessly.

@geoffkait , yes I agree, a great many reasons. Did not mean to say that AMD is a panacea or that it obviates the need for other tweaking at all.

Although you do mention "...magnetic field interference, from transformers especially but also any wire that carries current, interconnects and/or speaker cables in reverse direction...".

Actually I’m using AMD devices that are designed to specifically address these issues. One of them is designed to sit on top of a stack of gear (near the topmost transformer, although the exact spot is tuned by ear for the best sounding bass response) and it treats all the transformers in the stack - reducing their magnetic field and therefore the multiple field interactions - in my system, an extraordinary amount of improvement in the ebb and flow of the harmonic signature...a marvelously musical effect.
Right off I myself have always noticed is that placing anything your speakers will most certainly affect the audio reproduction.  When I tried placing my tv on a steroeo cabinet right between my speakers the imaging between the speakers would be pretty much distroyed plus, of ourse the audio reproduction itself is greatly hampered.  That is why I alway cringe whn I see either an individual, in an advertisement in a magazine, or even worse being demonstrating at an audio where all the audio electronics sit right between the speakers.  That is why I always have my tv well behind the speakers them self.  Possibly covering the tv with a blanket acts somehow like an audio tweak product  to lessen the brightness effect caused by the tv.  As an experiment, have someone stand directly between your speakers an notice how it will effect the sound reproduction.  The bigger the person, or the larger the objects between the speakers, the greater the effect.  I know.  I wish I could bring my tv, which sits on a light wood table right up near me.  A 50 inch tv looks much better up close verses 12-14 feet away, but unless I am using my headphones, it just does not work.

The biggest problems with MOST digital are:

1) jitter from the source

2) poor digital filter in the D/A

3) format


These can all be overcome with the right choices, equipment and treatments.  Once you lick these and have a good DAC, it will beat 99% of the best vinyl out there.  Vinyl is just not capable of the dynamics of digital, or the extension high and low.


If you MUST play CD's (I don't anymore), then at least treat the read surface with something like Ultrabit Platinum plus, unless of course you have a transport that uses a memory buffer for playback.  Also, it is even more important if you stop the vibration during playback by gluing a damper to the top of the CD or spraying a rubberized coating.  These coatings have a significant effect on jitter. IF you have a platter-type CD transport, its not needed obviously.


Steve N.

Empirical Audio