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Listening Levels for Classical Music / Slightly electronic sound at high levels

I'm presently auditioning some new very high resolution speakers to possibly take the place of my Thiel 2.4's which are absolutely fabulous on classical music but which run out of steam on orchestral peaks.  The new speakers absolutely do NOT run out of steam and are *perhaps* more highly resolving than the Thiels which is really saying something.  However what I'm hearing on the Paradigm Persona 9h is sound of a different character between crescendos and quiet portions of the classical repertoire where individual instrument, although generally "right" in timbre (clarinets sound like clarinets and bassoons sound like bassoons) but there's a slightly electronic sounding envelope around individual instruments.  It particularly noticeable at high listening levels but less so at moderate listening levels and low listening levels.  In a word the music on the 9Hs sound ever slightly more "electronic" or "digital" with a tiny bit less  immediacy and presence than with the Thiels on quieter portions of the musical line where solo instruments enter and the rest of the orchestra is sightly recessed.  The 9Hs are astounding in so many ways that I'm just trying to get my head around the differences that I'm hearing.  Amplification is a Pass 150.8, pre is the Aesthetix Janus, DAC is the PS Audio Directstream.   I can listen at moderate levels and not be bothered by it so much but there's a subtle difference here. Once they're dialed in both speakers image like crazy and disappear in the soundstage.   Any thoughts?
pwhinson
inna
7,296 posts
 
Here is my hypothesis, and I am sorry if I am right. What you hear with your very high resolution speakers are digital artifacts, something that you could not hear with your Thiel speakers. Whether they come from the recording, from your dac, from digital cable or all of them is another question.
It does not sound to me like amp/speakers mismatch.
What folkfreak said also could be, at least to partly contribute.
If you have any analog source, try with it.
pwhinson OP
158 posts
 
Thanks inna, that has actually occurred to me but of course just about every recording these days is made digitally. Because of my extraordinary lazy nature I have grown use to listening to nothing but digital files mostly high resolution streamed to the PS Audio DAC. I DO have a VPI rig for vinyl but even alot of vinyl is derived from digital recordings. I also think of the Thiels as high resolution speakers but perhaps the Personas are high resolution as "under an electron microscope" and that’s what I’m hearing. My VPI table, when I use it, feeds the Aesthetix Janus which I have but which is presently out of the loop in favor of the Calypso (its the same unit without the phono stage). So YES I’ve been thinking all day about switching out the Calypso with the Janus and listening to vinyl and seeing what that yields.
inna
7,296 posts
 
I don't know much about digital but I did hear an opinion that many people underestimated the importance of digital cables. Just a thought. 
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
At this point, playing vinyl may be the way to diagnose this issue. Most modern pressings originate from digital production/mastering which does impart different characteristics than AAA.
   My advice; use a known high quality record from either an analogue or digital master to test your speakers. You can check reviews of vinyl you own, or buy a high quality analogue recording. There are so many available.


inna
7,296 posts
 
This is probably wrong but I think not impossible. What you hear might be your Pass transistors' artifacts that were masked by less resolving speakers. In my analog based solid state system I don't hear what you described, but there is always something that annoys me to a degree and I know what it is - transistors, this kind of slightly metallic/electronic/recessed sound signature.
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