For the record, I "helped" Bwhite a bit in his system building - although, to be quite honest, I doubt he needs much help (he just doesn't know it yet...) - so I have more than a passing interest here. Bryan, how did the CJ pre that I suggested for comparison (ART, I see you picked...nice) compare to the Syrah, price aside? You had said you thought the Syrah was the culprit. Did the ART resolve that pre issue, but leave the alleged synergy issue, leaving you to still focus on source? I get the feeling that you are still ot sure if its pre or CD thats the problem. Frankly, so far, I can't tell either..
Well, I don't know whether its the culprit for the CD anomaly, but I think you may want to listen to Detlof (Hi, Detlof). He knows of where he speaks. And that "where" is, perhaps, about speakers, and particularly in musicality areas. The Dynaudios - beautiful drivers all - are voiced to load the initial transient with energy. This listening bias accentuates detail at the beginning of notes and leads the mind to "see" speed. Some speakers of this bias are spitty and others less so (lessened mechanical artifacts, ie distortion, like the Dynaudios). They are "accurate" to one degree or another, for lack of another word. Many times speakers designed with these listening criteria have performance limitations with regard to spatial qualities (the source sound is favored over the surrounding space). This is not a proportion issue in terms of quantitative measures like size, but an existential issue in terms of deep realism (how the stereo piece catalyzes one to seep deeper into the music, as opposed to thinking too much). To discern this deeper issue, and tune it to greater system integration, and regardless of the CD quandry, you may have to consider that the system you are arranging wants to present you with a musical experience that goes beyond detail-orientated speakers (and their designer's attendant musical values).
Swap in a world class speaker that is not detail-orientated and is not a current black hole for the amp (and, no, B&W's don't count). It may not matter, but I'd be interested in your long and short term reactions.
Well, I don't know whether its the culprit for the CD anomaly, but I think you may want to listen to Detlof (Hi, Detlof). He knows of where he speaks. And that "where" is, perhaps, about speakers, and particularly in musicality areas. The Dynaudios - beautiful drivers all - are voiced to load the initial transient with energy. This listening bias accentuates detail at the beginning of notes and leads the mind to "see" speed. Some speakers of this bias are spitty and others less so (lessened mechanical artifacts, ie distortion, like the Dynaudios). They are "accurate" to one degree or another, for lack of another word. Many times speakers designed with these listening criteria have performance limitations with regard to spatial qualities (the source sound is favored over the surrounding space). This is not a proportion issue in terms of quantitative measures like size, but an existential issue in terms of deep realism (how the stereo piece catalyzes one to seep deeper into the music, as opposed to thinking too much). To discern this deeper issue, and tune it to greater system integration, and regardless of the CD quandry, you may have to consider that the system you are arranging wants to present you with a musical experience that goes beyond detail-orientated speakers (and their designer's attendant musical values).
Swap in a world class speaker that is not detail-orientated and is not a current black hole for the amp (and, no, B&W's don't count). It may not matter, but I'd be interested in your long and short term reactions.