Question for classical lovers

I think Kal's comments might well apply...You could well need to work on your room. You might also re-examine the synergy of your components and your room.
FWIW, I do a lot of listening to digital classical on a system using a tube CDP and/or DAC, a tube pre-amp and tube amp with a moderatly priced pair of dynamic speakers which are very revealing. I have carefully set up my room and I do not share your experiences at all. I will admit that my electronics err slightly on the warm side of neutral which makes instruments with a lot of lower midrange-upper bass sound much more natural.

The majority DO suck! There is a wasteland of 10-15 years (early 80s to mid 90s) where classical CDs–except from some smaller labels like Telarc, Chandos, Chesky, Reference Recordings, and a few others who managed to produce excellent sounding productions–are painful to listen to. The large labels piled crap-on-crap as far as sonics. Some exceptions were Decca and (some) Philips.recordings. Reissues on CD of previously excellent sounding analog releases were also a disgrace. These same analog recordings are now turning up on more tolerable sounding SACDs but still can’t quite equal the sound of an LP played (even) on a reasonably priced turntable system.

With some of the newer, higher sampling digital processors and players the shrillness and metallic quality of some of these offensive recordings can be tamed but not completely cured. It is a shame so many excellent recordings by great artists were butchered by such crappy sound. The situation seems to have improved in recent years. I guess the complaints (maybe even from the artists themselves) started to pile up enough that someone took notice.

So be careful what you buy and read some of the opinions of other members here. Members, Rushton and Texasdave, have given some excellent choices in the past on these forums that have assisted me in my purchases.

Regards,
8>(

Rotarius, you've posed an issue I've resolved for myself by staying firmly with LPs in my classical music collection. At the same time, I have a number of audio friends who derive great pleasure from classical music via CD, such as Audigon members Texasdave and Trcnetmsncom.

Here are a few classical CD suggestions for you to try that I know can sound good with well-tuned digital front end (there are certainly others):

Rutter, Requiem, Reference Recordings 57
Bax, Symphony No. 6 or No. 7, David Lloyd-Jones on Naxos
Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto, Wallenstein/LSO with Perlman on Chesky

None of these have the ease and naturalness of sound that I hear from a comparable LP on a decent turntable setup, but all have quite reasonable string tone. If they don't work for you, then either some work on your audio system is needed, or, like me and Albert Porter, you may just need to shift back to a turntable. ;-)

Vvrinc, glad some of the music suggestions have resonated well with you!
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Rotarius-I feel your pain! I loved my vinyl, and refused to even consider buying a cassette or even a reel to reel. When CD's came along, I was taken by the great S/N ratio, dynamic range, etc, but--- something wasn't right!

I bought my first CD player in 1984. Most of the early digital recordings were really bad. About 1990, we started getting some recordings that were better. 20-25 years after the birth of digital, we are starting to get equipment and recordings that really draw me back to long listening sessions rather than running me out of the room after 15 minutes. Vinyl is fussy and high maintenance but can be really rewarding, if you pay your dues. Digital is relatively easy, and there is an abundance of recorded material out there. It’s getting a whole lot better. I recently bought an Audio Mirror D-1, and I'm quite fond of that little box. It's not quite analog, but its certainly not digital sounding as we have come to know digital. If you think about the enormous leap in quality that vinyl saw from 1955 to 1980, maybe we are on a similar timetable with digital. We are about 25 years in now. I think we are about to get digital right, at long last.

Rotarius:

Agree with Vvrinc that the majority 80's-90's recordings sound bad, but a good CDP can improve things enormously. Just curious: What kind of CDP do you use?
Jay