How to remove harshness from my digital gear

FWIW, I never play CDs directly on my system anymore. THey get ripped to music server and played from there using Squeezebox or similar network player with external DAC. This approach takes a lot of the guesswork and uncertainties associated with more error prone real time reading of data on an optical disk and the potential effect of this on jitter, etc. out of the process. Not to say that jitter might not be lowered even further in each case resulting in better clarity, resolution etc., , but I find this puts things in a pretty good place soundwise in terms of no inherent harshness in general. Just my experience.....

Also its worth saying that there will ALWAYS be some CD recordings that are inherently bright due to the way they are produced and mastered. Many newer rock/pop "loudness wars" type recordings come off relatively harsh compared to others. Many others that are mastered and produced better do not. More loudness generally means more of whatever there is in the recording to start with, good or bad. When the waveform peaks get clipped in the process, which is not uncommon in many modern pop/rock recordings, well, there you go, it is what it is and best you can do is damage control.

Robsker, good comments by Steve, of course. I would add that if you already haven't things I think you should do early on (in addition to his item 1) would be:

(a)Verifying that the hum is in fact due to a ground loop, rather than being generated internally within an individual component.

(b)If it is in fact being caused by a ground loop, identifying which two interconnected components (together with their AC power wiring) comprise the loop.

Both of those things can be accomplished by a process of selectively disconnecting components from the system, and TEMPORARILY using cheater plugs (3-prong to 2-prong adapters) on the power plugs of suspected components.

If you eventually determine that the problem is due to a ground loop between two specific interconnected components, inserting a quality transformer/isolator between them, as he indicated, should resolve the problem.

BTW, and this pertains to the OP, ground loop-related noise can be present on digital as well as analog signals (assuming that the digital interconnection is electrical and not optical). In the case of a digital signal it will not manifest itself as hum, but can be a significant contributor to jitter, and therefore to harshness. Differences in the type and length of the digital cable that is involved can make a difference in the severity of that effect, although with little or no predictability.

Regards,
-- Al

Surely the most obvious answer is to look at your speakers or find the right source that complements your amp and speakers as-is.

It's going to be very hard to solve this if the root cause is really the tweeter levels in the Dynaudios. That's really a function of the crossover design (may need a change of resistor to attenuate the treble - not easy if DIY challenged), room acoustics and speaker placement.

I think many DACs sound quite different, so that would be the easier thing to change. I don't think it's a question of tubes being the only answer here, either. Take your pick depending on your price and then go audition.

Some suggestions: NAD M51, Audio Note 1.1, Metrum Hex, AMR DP777, Naim DAC, Resolution Audio Cantata

http://www.alldacinfo.com/?page_id=242

The great news is that it's nothing that money can't fix. Many CD players (and CDs) have a glare or brittleness that can be annoying. I had good success with a modified Sonos fed into an NADM51 as a digital source but the Sonos lacked the ability to play higher resolution files. Therefore, I recently sold the Sonos and went a different direction.

My digital "chain" is now an external hard drive (and some thumb drives as well) fed into a Bryston BDP-1 which is connected to the NADM51 with a balanced digital interconnect. The NAD outputs via balanced cables to a Bryston MP26 pre-amp. My amp is a Brytson 4SST2 and my speakers are Harbeth SHL5s. My interconnects and speaker cables are all Signal cable.

I also feed the NAD with an Oppo 83 using a Wireworld HDMI cable. This allows me to play CDs, SACDs, and DVDA through the NAD and this also sounds great.

I may not have answered your specific question, but I think you start with the source and work your way thru the chain. I'm happy with my result.

Audioengr wrote,

"Geoff - the CD sounds thin due to jitter from the badly formed pits. Rip the CD with dbpoweramp to .wave file and then rewrite onto a CDROM using a good writer and you will experience lower jitter. Reclock the CD transport and you will experience even lower jitter."

There are many reasons why CDs sound harsh and I think badly formed pits is probably one of them, as the Nespa photon device seemed to illustrate. However, the badly formed pits are not the end of the story, not by a long shot. To name a few other reasons: scattered background laser light, mold release compound on the surface of the CD, out of round condition of the disc produces excessive wobble, transport not level during play, magnetism build up in the CD, static charge build up on the CD surface, structureborne vibration. In addition, there are many other reasons why CDs often sound harsh, thin, etc. that are probably too controversial to mention in this discussion. We'll save those for a rainy day.