Maybe too detailed

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. :}

There is no such thing as too much detail. That's like saying there's too much darkness in the night.

Since you did not list most of your system inventory you are probably experiencing the results of a system exhibiting more detail but not utilizing proper line conditioning and especially not utilizing proper vibration management.

For if you had these two elements properly addressed you most likely would have known their foundational significance and would have listed them in your original post to let the reader know those areas are probably not a potential issue. Or perhaps you would not have posted at all.

You may well also be describing the affects of much time-smear in your ics and scs and/or perhaps inferior speakers/tweeters.

Moreover, if your system is generally weak in the lower frequencies, then such an unbalanced presentation can give the perception that there is too much detail or the highs are too bright. Combine that with the other potential weaknesses listed above.

But based on what little you provided I would guess it's potentially a combination of your entire system minus the amp.

That should help narrow things down a bit. :)

But the fact that you claim there could be 'too much' detail tells me that at least you're on the right track because the real magic is buried in the detail. Now you just need to clean it up.

So rather than squash that potentially newfound detail (even though it may be fatiguing at the moment), start experimenting with some high-end line conditioners (stay away from the most popular brand), try some different ics and scs (stay away from silver at least for now), and see if you can turn that potentially overly bright detail into something really musical.

-IMO

Is it a psycho-acoustics thing that a revealing system SHOULD be edgy sounding? I think it should be both revealing AND warm/organic sounding like in real life. This combination could only be had by using some "musical" sounding electronics, mainly power amp. But as I mentioned earlier those power amps are very very expensive (FM Acoustics/Soulution/Boulder/LAMM/Ayre).

Chris