My 6922 Tubes Are Too Bright!

How does your room sound in general? If you clap your hands together is there a loud ping behind it or does it sound natural? You just might need to work on your listening area, speaker and your seat placement. I recommend get your room and placement to sound it’s best before working on tweaks and cabling. 

Some quick ideas on CD players. Herbie tube dampers since you have tubes, upgrade the power cord if it’s a stock computer one, then the interconnects to maybe something on the warmer side. I never felt my current CD player was bright but one of the best improvements I did to my player was change out the fuses; really opened the player up and has a more relaxed presentation without losing anything. Sounds much closer to my analog rig that I find I play it far less now.

Try the clap test first; not a soft clap. If you don’t like how that sounds work on your room first until it the ping is gone or close to. Good to have a friend help you so one can clap in other areas of the room such as where your speakers are placed while you sit in your listening area, and do the same where you listen. Take your time, as it takes a lot of time. Once you think you have it then play with your speakers firing straight ahead into the room and then play with toeing them in if needed. 

Will help describing your room and associated equipment, cables, size of your room, speaker and sitting placement.

I've been experimenting with 6922 family tubes to tame some of the issues you are having. In my PS Audio BHK Stereo 250 amp, I've found Voskhod "Rocket" 6n23p tubes to be just the ticket. The Reflektor factory's tubes haven't appealed to me so much. I also liked the Voskhods very much in a Music Reference RM5III preamp I used to own. In my PS Audio BHK preamp, I greatly prefer Raytheon 7308's to brighter Amperex, Phillips, EH, & Siemens 6922s and 6DJ8s. The prevailing consensus among most audiophiles is that American and European 6DJ8, 6922s, etc. are the best but I find them to be a bit bright in many applications. As always, YMMV. What sounds good in one application isn't always the case in another. 

photon46,

I am a BHK250 user too, can you describe the sound signature of the Rocket tube and where you got it from?  thx.

I suggest u call Andy at Vintage Tube Services and speak to an expert.
  It sounds like Mullard may be what you need, he can tell you about the sonics of the 6922/E88CC Mullard vs. other brands. But premium tubes are not cheap.

The new production JJ/Tesla E88CC is a very warm tube and quiet tube that I have used in a CDP with success. I've also used it in a headphone amp. It's cheap so give it a try, not much to lose.