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Trade offs?

As I have improved my system the quality of the CD recordings has become more and more obvious; unfortunately poor quality and harsh sounding discs seem to bother me more as the reproduction becomes clearer.
Having recently started using Ultrabit Platinum I find it sustantially improves the sound of better recordings but also reveals the harsness in poor recordings.
This all gets me wondering,on this quiet Sunday morning, if perhaps I'm reaching the end of the line on further upgrades to my Spectral/MIT based system?
For example will a better CD player simply reveal that the quality of the recordings are already the limiting factor in my enjoyment, better Cd players won't provide more enjoyment?
psacanli
tvad
9,467 posts
 
03-15-09: Tvad
Anyone other than someone financially independent without
any personal fiscal responsibility would replace their entire CD collection with
records.

"Anyone" should be replaced with "No one" in this sentence.

Sns, after reading your post (and Aball's post), I have to agree with you. I have also noticed my system going from highly resolving and exposing all warts, to highly resolving with less grain and less harshness.

However, in my case, phase two has come with a substantially higher investment in components. Is that your case, as well?

The higher cost (from my experience), is why I suggested going in reverse to a less resolving system, which could make more CDs sound listenable while also not breaking the bank.
sns
653 posts
 
Tvad, refinement for me has come with parts upgrades. Duelund, Jantzen and VH Audio V-Cap capacitors have made all the difference. Vishay nude resistors are nice as well. Power supply mods are the latest upgrades.

This kind of refinement doesn't have to cost a lot, DIY saves a whole lot. Parts upgrades also allow for a multitude of voicing adjustments, much greater than cables and various isolation schemes, even some wholesale equipment changes IME.

I can't believe how few modders are out there, equipment recycling is relatively boring, endless and costly, I'm done with it.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
I'm not a modder, so I pay for equipment with better parts and better design.

However, the end game is the same.
devilboy
818 posts
 
"If you want more of your cd's to sound less harsh, then I suggest moving toward a less resolving system...."
WHAT?!?!?! Tvad: Do you really think that someone should totally reconfigure their system to accomodate "harsh" sounding cd's, instead of buying better cds? C'mon. That's like putting $500 tires on a Kia instead of buying a BMW.
plato
1,543 posts
 
Aball, I'm 100 percent with you on what you said about systems and recording quality. Congrats for explaining it better than I did. :)
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