Maybe too detailed


Just purchased CEC TL51X transport to replace CAL Audio Icon used as transport which broke. Expected nothing new--bits are bits, right? For some reason, everything is more detailed, but almost too much, bordering on "digititus." Some recordings are not enjoyable because every flaw is exposed and highlighted. The sound was hardly lush before, but its detail was not off-putting. The D to A converter is a Tact 2.2XP which is essential for my awful room. Amp is BAT VK60, which you would think would ameliorate any harshness. What's the amswer . . . a tube preamp after the Tact to control volume and soften things up? Your thoughts appreciated.
lavoy
If you were happy before you switched out units and now your not,I would say you could switch out transports again.Otherwise you talking about turning your system upside down to get back to where you were.Thats called,well,you get the idea.....
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Here is what happened to you:

You lowered the digital jitter so that the detail and HF extension is in focus as opposed to out of focus. This removed the masking effect of the jitter than you had before. The result is that the new clarity is allowing you to hear the sibilance of another component such as a DAC, preamp, amp or even cables. Maybe even your speakers. You need to swap other components in and identify the offending piece(s). Most likely your DAC is at fault.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Agree with Photon46--all reports are that the CEC transport has a softer presentation than most, which is why I bought it. That attribute is apparently being overcome by something else, perhaps the jitter scenario described by Audioengr, which is my suspicion. Frankly, the sound resembles the overly bright and etched all-Tact system I heard at CES two-years ago (which resembles, in my opinion, the all-Meridian systems that I have heard). I assumed my tube amp would compensate for the overly digital all-Tact system sound. However, it appears the old transport, perhaps because of design or age, was resposible for the softening effect, not the tube amp. While I dislike the sharpness of the Tact 2.2XP, it does amazingly fix the room problem which was several significant 5 to 12 db humps in the sub-200 hz region that created a dull, diffuse and chesty quality in the sound. Everything immediately comes into focus when the correction is enabled. My speakers may also be partially contributing to this--they use Scanspeak Revelator tweaters which can be somewhat strident in the wrong system, which perhaps I have.
I agree with Steve. I've experienced similar issues. A good pre-amp/amp will, no other word to say it, ruthlessly expose weakness in the DAC. IME, you can either upgrade the DAC (and I haven't done sucessfully done that yet because so many DACs sound similar) or go back to masking the sound. Masking the sound isn't such a bad thing IMO if it gives one a break from the merry go round. :}