Many revelations tonight… i asked my spouse and my youngest daughter (both very musically inclined) to validate if they hear the same issue as I do. Three test tracks we focusec on : opening voice on Biko (Melt, Peter Gabriel), opening guitar on Dear Rosemary (Wasting Lights, Foo Fighters), violon ensemble at the beginning of Summertime (Ella and Louis). They heard the same (ouf, i am not crazy). We tried different configuration, no improvement. Then my wife made me realized that a few weeks ago I elevated my speakers by about 6 inches and as a result high frequencies were lounder… hum, overemphasis of the sound that bugs me. Ok, speakers back on previous stands - good improvement.
Then corrected a roon codec issue and unplud laptop (back to battery operated). Listen again to all those tracks - better but far from great. Then my daughter asked if she can lesson to those tracks on her cell phone with headsets (direct from spotify, no roon, no tidal). And she said “i am hearing the same issue!”!!! My conclusion: my system is overemphazing a sound that was there.
With the codec correctly installed, speakers back to their original position, with special attention to equipment location (NUC in the mechanical room, endpoint battery operated, etc), tracks that are well recorded are perfect, but cheap stuff (mass market rock - hello Mr Bon Jovi!) sounds awefull, whatever the source or format.
Where do I stand? Acceptation, i guess…