Is it me or new audio gear is too perfect and give ear fatigue?

"@arize84 Topping makes some DACs that are quite smooth on top and measure well and are also inexpensive."

Topping Dacs do not sound good in the mid range with human voices. They sound shrill. Many Ess dacs sounds like this.

Quality modern equipment sounds FAR better than vintage. Those who push vintage gear yearn for nostalgia.

One good thing about tube gear is that, given you’re happpy with the overall sound, you don‘t have to buy new gear but different tubes only to tweak the sound. There‘s crazy expensive tubes, of course, but if you desire those they‘re still cheaper than, say, a new amp.

Maybe a route worth considering.

I have 2 DACs , one was the darling of ASR,  the other would fail ASR miserably....guess which one is in use and which one is currently disconnected?

Yes, burn-in can reduce initial apparent brightness over time.

Yes, the latest crop of tube amps (as a group) are less warm & syrupy sounding.

Yes, system-matching has a large effect on bright vs not-bright sound (brightness can be added or subtracted by canny component choices & matching).

But I’m a little surprised that no one here touched on a very relevant fact of audio life: the ever-present RESOLUTION vs MUSICALITY debate. This takes place in two intersecting spheres:

1 - Design/Build/Manufacture: Some audio designers & companies are known for emphasizing resolution and detail retrieval ("plankton") over all else. Considering that all audio gear gives, at best, a carefully chosen version of how music sounds IRL, this tendence to chase resolution is a legitimate choice...though one that disagrees with me and has since my youth (not a new thing)

2 - Audio Consumers: Similarly, individual listeners also have preferences in the gear they invest in. Some audiophiles go crazy for highly resolving, forensically detailed gear, while others go in the other direction, towards "musicality" (by which I mean similarity to the sound of music IRL), which includes a natural weight in the upper midrange and a slow roll-off in the treble, matching what you’ll hear in any good concert hall

In my experience, a lot of brightness is actually dialed in, selected by both parties in the audio hobby. My preferences take me in the other direction and always have. I’ve heard so much live music of all kinds, and other than some amplification anomalies in live electrified shows, I can’t think of any music events that were consistently bright in the way certain components and speakers are.

Topping Dacs do not sound good in the mid range with human voices. They sound shrill. Many Ess dacs sounds like this.

@laoman 

Obviously, since you quoted my prior post, you can imagine I don't agree with this. I use recordings I made as reference; I know what they should sound like- I was there at the recording session. The Topping D90SE is quite neutral and does female voices just fine.