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How to tame a bright system?

Hi all,

I have been facing a problem, the brightness of my system:

Bluesound n130  --- Chord dave ---- audioquest fire (xlr) ---- Etude  ---- copper wire ---- B&W 606s2.

 

The brightness shows up, particularly after I upgrade the cable from the chord company clearway (RCA) to the AQ fire (XLR).  AQ fire really improved everything. However, the high frequency is too cristal to my ears (especially the "ding, ding" sound from the piano, I believe most of the people would love it but not me .... ).  I like the cheap clearway, but it does not have the excellent bass and the dynamic offered by fire. I also tried with AQ Mackenzie (copper) which gives a proper sound but lacks space. I also found the vocal of fire is a bit forward (I am not really big fun of forwarding vocal).

Can someone help to recommend a cable that has everything of clearway but more dynamic and extension at the low end? I think this would be an ideal cable for my current system.

 

If possible, please help to focus on the cable rather than the other components. I know there is a lot to improve, but not at the moment.  Thanks a lot guys!  ;-) 

 

 

 

tension255
asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,739 posts
 

DSP maybe...but the potential for 'brightishness' could still be apparent...esp. if one has lived with the equipment for awhile....'closeness' can breed contempt as well as affection....*s*

Digital eq's are pretty quiet, and some can be very precise is used with a DSP with a light touch... When I 'hear' "bright in a comment,; I think 'crisp', but that's what I prefer.  Overall, 'flat' is my average 'D2D'.

HO: Speakers.  Amp is what 'processes' the signal, the speaker recreates.

Moral: DSP+eq might 'damp', but speaker swapping is costly+hassle.

Your move, good luck, J

richtruss
163 posts
 

You have a great DAC, amp, speakers, but based on my experience the streamer is causing the issue you describe. Try something like a Bricasti M5 with good Ethernet RFI filtering and you’ll get a much more analogue and musically involving sound, with improved detail, dynamics and soundstage.

 

dynacohum
654 posts
 

I would advise you to take painter24’s advice and contact GR Research about their upgrade kit for the 606S2.  Then I’d focus on speaker placement, make sure you have properly damped stands, and treat the room for early reflections, if that applies. Theses are low cost steps to take before diving into electronics upgrades.

Transparent Cable Music Wave is also a cable that won’t exacerbate a rough treble.

itsjustme
682 posts
 

IMO, you pairing bright sounding amplifier to bright sounding speakers, my suggestion is save your money on cable and go try some speakers with soft-dome tweeter like Dynaudio...

Treat the cause, not the symptom!

IMO, 2nd. And the Fire is not exactly lush sounding, if my very minimal experience has any merit.

 

I admit also, to placing very little faith in significant differences between ANY cables, digital ones especially, so long as the basics of impedances, clean connections, yada yada are maintained. Since the industry has standardized on a 50 ohm connector for 75 ohm interface, .... but i digress down a rabbit hole.

My two cents: you don’t really like your speakers.

 

One very practical solution would be to tailor a low pass filter (gentle rolloff)and program i into a DSP like Roon’s. Its why its there. I have a switchable, gentle low pas filter* (one insanely good PP capacitor) on all my amps. Most recordings too, err on the bright side. Nothing good happens above 20 kHz!

 

*say, -3 to -5 dB at 20 kHz. Sounds big, but is very subtle.

aniwolfe
761 posts
 

Insteresting...your pairing a $12k dac with $1kish speakers. I would sell the speakerrs personally.

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