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What makes music so congested?

I just have been playing Yes Fragile. So good, haven't heard it for year being a jazz guy these days.

But man there is so much going on and it's so congested, just a mushy mix. After hearing Stanley Clark's Jazz in the Garden, Dave Holland Points of View, on which everything is so crystal clear even when lots is going on, the Yes is just almost unlistenably irritating.

Is it speakers? the CD? Amp?

How do you decongest music?
river251
bigkidz
3,416 posts
 
There are a few items that can cause this. Old CDP laser, DAC, and preamp mostly. Replacing something as simple as the CDP laser can add clarity and separation. Your DAC can also be the issue. Preamps especially tube preamps can cause clarity issues especially if there are caps in the signal path. Caps sound different. Some are musical, some have better clarity, some can offer a mix. I would start by replacing the CDP laser if your CDP is an older model. This can be a simple cheap fix.

Happy Listening.
river251 OP
154 posts
 
Ivrobinson...good idea, to eliminate the speakers and room in one swoop... how good a headphones do you think I need? Guess I could play around but never bought good headphones as it seems like it's coming from the center of my head. I remember Headroom did some headphone amp to deal with this but never tried....in fact I don't know how I'd drive them, with my vintage tube gear with no headphone output...

You know listening right now to my ProAc OneSCs in my room, my subjective thought right now is it's a node somewhere in the bass.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,686 posts
 
Regarding headphones as a tool to help eliminate congestion, I use Klipsch S4 ear buds with my Squeezebox Radio and my daughters Ipod oudoors. THese do a fantastic job of sorting through the music for only $80, even on the Ipod playing mp3s. Bass and vocals are all there and everything is well presented top to bottom I would say.
tonywinsc
583 posts
 
I went to a lot of rock concerts in the 70s. Outdoors, indoors, giant stadiums, amphitheaters, etc. Congested sound was the goal. Constant maximum dB output. Many early 70s rock recordings were done the that way just like their live concerts. That's why we have gravitated to more civilized styles of music, although Heart, Dreamboat Annie on London pressing sounds great and rocks.
grundy
2 posts
 
I have a run of the mill Atlantic CD, made by BMG. It sounds great. When BMG was in business I really didn't feel their recording/transfer quality was that good. The sound of this CD rocks! I have always been shocked at the definition and quality of the bass on this (1972) recording. Your amp has got to be able to drive your speakers. This is definitely not a pristine recording. The highs have distortion problems, but you should be able to identify that. There is no way this recording would be considered congested. I had a vintage Pioneer low wattage receiver in my garage that sounded a little mushy/congested. It broke. Now I have a modern higher wattage receiver that doesn't sound congested, but really has no soul. I like my OCM 500 amp. If I had a complaint, it would be that it sounds darker than my old amp. That is probably a good thing, I am not going to name my old amp. The only thing it was good at was the midrange, even though it had 2x the wattage of the OCM. Try changing your amp, and, or speakers.
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