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Digital Music sounds too bright?

If you feel your digital sound is too bright - I suggest you place a lightweight blanket over your tv screen or computer screen, if you have it placed between your main speakers. I did this and immediately heard a less edgy sound and improved separation between left and right channels.  I have a 55 inch screen between my mains (Tyler Acoustics). This easy and free tweak made a noticeable improvement for me. Hope it will for you too. 

(It makes complete sense that this will reduce some reflected sound. No one would ever recommend placing a mirror or window between main speakers, but a screen has the same effect. If you have a coffee table in front of you when listening, it also could reflect sound that undermines your speakers. Try covering it or moving it away). 
philtangerine

Showing 5 responses by shadorne

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shadorne
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@audioengr 

I thought balanced was supposed to be equal complimentary resistance to ground - so cancels out any spurious signals
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shadorne
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@audioengr

+1 Ditto

Since the measured performance of my DAC with Toslink is absolutely perfect and I have very few really high res files, I have opted for galvanic isolation rather than use the higher sample rate USB input of my DAC

So I have complete galvanic isolation using Toslink to the DAC and balanced out to the power amp.

Nice not to have to worry about the effects of cables and ground loops. However it needs a DAC with robust jitter rejection given Toslink is often the most jittery connection. For balanced I use Canare Star Quad cables.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
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@audioengr 

+1

"BTW, brightness is not usually due to acoustics. Its usually something else. Most people go down the garden path using cables that act as filter, ferrite beads or blankets to snuff-out the HF sounds. This is the wrong path to take.

Figure out what components are really at fault. Usually excessive jitter from the source, whether computer or CD player, or poor preamp that adds too much distortion and has poor power delivery or even sometimes a bad DAC. This is typical."

Yup. I would always address what components are really at fault FIRST before using cables to filter the poor sound.

In fact, if special cables are necessary it may indicate a component is at fault or two components are incompatible with each other.
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
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Just be aware that most speakers radiate only forwards above about 300Hz. So what is between and behind speakers will be third or fourth reflection points in most cases. Side walls, ceiling and floor in front of speakers and between speakers and the listener will be primary reflection points. I prefer most a live front end and a damped setup behind the listener. Zero reflection points within 3 feet of the speaker mid and tweeter drivers.
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shadorne
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For brightness it is much more important to cover surfaces that are first reflection points. If the TV is behind your speakers there is no big effect.
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