Thanks GHDprentice. Yes, I’m doing all you recommended. I’m sure in the coming weeks I’ll get closer but I can’t help wondering if a second pair of experienced ears would help in case I’m not being realistic in what I’m hoping for. I’m at a point of thinking “does this sound horrible” (it does to me) but then again I haven’t had the luxury of time to really sit for long analytical sessions.
One thing that is true that nobody has mentioned is the quality of the recordings I’m listening to with regards to mastering/engineering etc. I remember over a decade ago when I bought my first system I wasn’t able to listen to the majority of music I had liked previously as the system pointed out all the recording flaws.
i haven’t got around to setting up my new Bluesound Node yet and am working off a few CDs I have laying around and unfortunately I don’t have my usual “reference” tunes to guide me that I listen to from portable (great) headphones and headphone amp, that will tell me a lot once I get the Node up and running.