Do I have to buy all new CDs?

Both The Absolute Sound and Stereophile magazines contain reviews of music and rate them on performance and sonics. I must admit, though, that they don't always review music that I would listen to. But, the range of music is pretty broad, classical to rock/pop; they lean heavily toward classical and jazz. Usually, I mark what sounds interesting and listen to clips at www.amazon.com. If I like what I hear I buy it. There are some web-sites that rate music but I can't recall the addresses.

As much as audiophile always trash equalizers they can be effective tools for helping with good music that is poorly recorded. Try an inexpensive Audio Control for the music you like that is too bright. Used with a light touch it may help you enjoy your music a lot more, and isn't this what this hobby is all about. Make sure to insert it in a tape loop and not between your amp and preamp. You also might try a tube preamp. It might make your system a little more musical. Finally, make sure to use the current taps on the Sunfire as they will soften it up ever so slightly and impart a little of that "tube magic" on your speakers. These taps work best on dipole speakers like the Logans.

It is true case of "tail wagging the dog" if you only buy CDs because they sound good on your system, personally I don't care for most of the Cds mentioned by others here. Over half my CD collection is rock/alt which are not audiophile recordings, and to make them sound good you need a good DAC that removes distortion and has high quality filter, and also nuetral cables/interconnects that do not over emphasize upper mids and treble, among other things. I think many make the mistake of tuning their system to sound great with a handful of audiophile recordings, and sound terrible with average recordings, this is the opposite of my approach.

There is no easy answer to your question. I, too, have been increasingly frustrated by the number of mediocre quality CD's on the market. The better your audio system, the greater the extent that you notice poor recordings. You don't indicate your tastes in music, but I have had good luck with these labels: ECM; Chesky; Ma (small label with some interesting, eclectic music); Dorian; Mapleshade, and their subsidiary, Wildchild; the JVC XRCD re-issues (mostly jazz from the 1950's and 60's); Verve; the Mosaic re-issues; RCA's "Living Stereo" re-issues; Mercury's "Living Presence" re-issues; Alligator (blues); Water Lily (very eclectic world music, so you may not care for it); Premonition (the label that issues Patricia Barber's recordings); Reference Recordings; and Telarc. Beyond these suggestions, it's mostly trial and error.

I do not have a high resolution resolution system but I do alternate IC's. I prefer the Harmonic Technolgy Truthlink IC's for poor recordings as they seem to smooth out the HF's. It takes less than a minute to switch as I leave them hanging from spare inputs on the back of my preamp and just switch them on the CD [player. Otherwise I use silver IC's. Though more costly I think that Sam has the real ticket here. The reviews of his Bel Canto DAC are very good indeed and all mention its smooth/liquid but detailed sound quality. I am game for the Bel Canto after I resolve a few basic system issues (speakers, amps and how to shield $500.00 wooden speaker stands from five evil cats, LOL).