How I tamed digital glare.


For months I have been trying to eliminate digital glare in the my system, which showed up most noticably in the upper middle frequency vocal range, especially female vocals. I tamed some by replacing the stock fuse in my dac with HifiTuning Supreme Cu on the sage advice of Chris Van Haus of VH Audio, resulting in a significant improvement in tonal density, detail and clarity. So far, so good. Today I lightly dusted the laser lens in my CEC transport with a microfiber cloth and was astonished to discover a substantial improvement! And the laser lens and drive compartment appeared clean to begin with (in a smoke free environment). I tried cleaning contacts, swapping power cords and interconnects, rolling the tube in my MHDT dac, and so forth, but this simple protocol was more effective than any of those experiments. I suppose results may vary as every system is unique, but for me this simple tweak was revelatory: greater clarity and a signifcant reducton of hash. Wish I had thought of tt in the beginning; it would have saved me considerable time and frustration.
pmboyd
Your complete guide to eliminating digital glare:
Paint the insides flat black or even better line with a very flat black fabric. Color CD edges with a black or green marker or paint pen. Clean them with any combination of acrylic cleaners and cloths. Demagnetize em. Put cones, balls, balloons, or a phone book under it, and/or put sand, lead, wood, or whatever on top of it. Use anti-static spray. Play the demagnetizing tracks on the XLO Test CD. Finally, cue up a record. Done.
Try the High Fidelity MC-0.5 power conditioner. I had a bit of glare in the upper mids on strong female vocals, highs, when the volume is increased, piano key strikes, and horns. Fuses are a great way to start but you’ll reap bigger benefits with the MC-0.5.
 I kid you not.

The best price, if still available, is gained from calling direct and asking about any B-stock availability, which are 40% off retail.


All the best,
Nonoise
Thanks for the tips. The interior of my CD transport is black. All my components are acoustically isolated. My point is that simply cleaning the laser lens worked a miracle in my case. Virtually no digital hash remains across a broad spectrum of CDs (not counting the poorly mastered).Why didn't I think of this from the get go! 
Could it be coming from your cabling?  Are you using digital coaxial, AES/EBU, etc.?
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