A DAC to help overcome compressed music?

The rest of my system is a Luxman 590AX II (class A) and Harbeth 30.2. So for a clearer idea of what I mean by compressed, compare an Emmylou Harris, Nanci Griffith album to Alicia Keys or Diana Krall album (ignoring genre for now). The former sounds flat, bland, the later so alive, open and natural. So I am guessing the former is due to being compressed, as mentioned, the loudness wars, so it was made for listening from FM, cassettes, or cheap record players and I'll have to live with it. I actually have used DBX in a past system, but never liked what it did. I appreciate the suggestion of the Ayre since you have a bluesound also. So, perhaps upsampling like the Ayre does will help? Perhaps an R2R rather then FPGA? Or maybe I'm just trying to just improve (not fix!) something that can't be. Wouldn't be the first time.

So, you’re using a Node 2i for both streaming and DAC?

Hello deadhead

I don't want to disappoint, but how great it would be to have at least some control over these recordings. When I was a musician, and even now when I need a bit of EQ I always lower the frequencies that do not need change, so the freq. range I want to boost a db or so, is going to sound as though I boosted that freq. However, applying EQ the way I described prevents any unwanted gain leaking into the music or instrument sound due to not raising unneeded db in a freq. range. Well, this got me thinking, I do not know your source, but if you use software such as JRiver for music playback, you can try a DSP compressor and perhaps a bit of EQ. So for example, if you wanted the compression in the mid to lower bass to sound as loud as the other instruments, you could use a method similar to what I described in using EQ. A bit of EQ may help you achieve the desired results for the culprit recordings. A few friends of mind enjoy some dsps made by FabFilter. I've seen them work with an EQ this company makes, and you can do almost anything from traditional EQ use, to sound designs. There may be a bit of a learning curve, but it did not seem all that complicated. I just checked and they do have a compression dsp. It doesn't look like their dsps are the 5k plugins i'm aware of, maybe $150  to $250. It is professional software to be sure. 

Other than some creative dsp work, I can't think of way to 'simulate' a compressed recording to not sound so. I don't think hardware EQ such as Schiit's EQ would work too well, as each knob will move large chunks of frequencies. No pinpoint work that you can achieve with a good dsp. 

This may be a stretch but Ottoman Lab, which is Ken Uesugi, has a curious tube based EQ of sorts which you can ask him to make. It's basically a EQ that takes the signal from most digital devices and runs it through the RIAA vinyl EQ standard in hopes of giving the digital signal a 'record/vinyl' sound. You can find it at his website: Soundgate.net.

If you are not familar with him, he is a amplifier builder that is starting to gain a lot of traction in the audio world. He just had a 300b amp on Audiogon that has sold. People are reporting great results from his amps and seem to like them a lot. I'm thinking of buying a 45 SET from him due to his use of the 717 drive tube. This is the same tube that Yamamoto used in his highly praised 45 SET. I'm going off topic, but this piece of gear he makes may, just may, take the edge of high compression sound on your recordings with it.

Good luck in your quest!

robert

Sounds like you’re using a Bluesound player on its own. Adding a DAC will probably make a huge difference as the DAC in the Bluesound is mediocre and maybe lifeless as ones system is more revealing., Lots of options out there and most manufacturers or vendors offer a return policy, so you can try at home and return if you don’t like.

I added a RME ADI 2 fs DAC which is  a very flexible with multiple filters to pick from, EQ and loudness settings so can be fine tuned to one’s preference. I run my RME dead flat with everything set to fix with the sharp filter and in my system find it incredibly revealing, open but with no harshness or fatigue. Some time ago I did add a Teddy Pardo linear power supply which improved the player but even without the LPS it sounded great.

I think you’re really hearing the limitations of the DAC in the Bluesound. Also try a different power cord on the Bluesound as I found it helps a little as well.

There have been more than a few forum threads of folks adding upgraded external DACs to a BlueSound Node2I with success.