Help with fatiguing sound in my PC system

sbleam, I wasn't saying that the dlink III is fatiguing when used as intended... just that it was fatiguing when fed direct to amp, no pre in between. As described you are using a pre amp section for the Dlink III analog output. And yup, listening fatigue is frustrating. I'd say about 75% of my music collection is now edge/fatigue free when played, and 24 bit music seems to make a big difference vs 16 bit. The remaining 25% of 44.1khz/16 bit music has me constantly tinkering with better caps, interconnects and considering a better DAC purchase next year.

Of course the way HDtracks is going, by next year I might be able to retire all my 16 bit music with 24 bit replacements (grin) and bypass a new DAC.

My ears won't stop ringing. I might have tinnitis. If so, I'm selling all my gear. The sound fatigue might have nothing to do with the jitter, the speakers or the amp, it might have everything to do with how loud I've listened to my music for the past 3 years.

The increased detail, clarity, resolution and extension are remarkable, but so is the amount of listening fatigue.

1. The "audiophile virtues" listed before the "but" are often, IME, associated with the fatigue problem stated after. Hard to maximize detail and clarity and ease of listening, since detail and clarity are often associated with edgy highs, esp. at your price point.

2. Do your speakers have metal drivers?; if so, this a possible cause of fatigue.

3. When you move to replace your speakers (a priority, IM0, if the answer to 2 is yes), look at Fritzspeakers, Fritz does nice silk dome designs at a good price, which are easy on the ears.

4. From the pictures, it looks like you have a "hard" room. Softening things up with plants, wall hangings and furniture could help.

5. I'm not sure if it will help with the edge, but adding an augment like jPlay or Pure Music to iTunes will likely make a noticible improvement, for short $. I use PM, and have heard good things about jplay.

6. If you have tinnitus (not unlikely) do not sell your rig. There is not a good treatment, but having music on makes the symptoms less bothersome, since it masks the ringing. Get an spl meter, and keep it below 85.

Just my 3c. Good luck, and keep us posted.

John

A good tube amplifier can have wonderful detail and extension but also may be warm, beautiful and non-fatiguing.

since last post I have acquired a JK MkIII sync USB to SPDIF converter to replace the Vlink. Beyond the order of magnitude improvement in fidelity, its made it enjoyable to listen to PC audio fed direct from DAC to amp and helped me diagnose some "edginess" issues on certain CD's as preamp exaggerated. Looks like the Dlink III will be next leaving my system since its 2006 design has become the limiting factor for musical detail. No question that the JK MkIII gets you far more musical enjoyment with the Dlink III than the 96khz Vlink and the combination eliminates the musical fatigue I encountered with the Vlink