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Does Digital Try Too Hard?

Digital glare. A plague of digital sound playback systems. It seems the best comment a CD player or digital source can get is to sound “analog-like.” I’ve gone to great lengths to battle this in my CD-based 2-channel system but it’s never ending. My father, upon hearing my system for the first time (and at loud volumes), said this: “The treble isn’t offensive to my ears.” What a great compliment.

So what does digital do wrong? The tech specs tell us it’s far superior to vinyl or reel to reel. Does it try too hard? Where digital is trying to capture the micro details of complex passages, analog just “rounds it off” and says “good enough,” and it sounds good enough. Or does digital have some other issue in the chain - noise in the DAC chip, high frequency harmonics, or issues with the anti-aliasing filter? Does it have to do with the power supply?

There are studies that show people prefer the sound of vinyl, even if only by a small margin. That doesn’t quite add up when we consider digital’s dominant technical specifications. On paper, digital should win.

So what’s really going on here? Why doesn’t digital knock the socks off vinyl and why does there appear to be some issue with “digital glare” in digital systems.
mkgus

Showing 8 responses by mkgus

mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
Some recordings are better than others, especially ones not affected by the loudness war. Even the best recordings can sound harsh at times. As I upgrade my system, digital glare seems to diminish. Next up is a power supply upgrade. I’m thinking that will help a lot. 
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
The solution was clean power - via power conditioners, power supplies and quality copper cabling.

That makes me happy to hear as I am about to embark on a journey to clean up the power going to my CD player. 😀
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
My digital setup has no trace of any glare....the devil is in the detail 😊
So what are you doing right? What does your power supply game look like?
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
I’m fairly certain that digital glare is not in the recording, unless it’s a bad recording. I’ve managed to clear a lot of it up with power cord upgrades, power supply upgrades and unless my mind is playing tricks on me, with crystals like shungite and quartz placed near certain components.
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
Quick update: I just modified my CD player to run off a large battery. My CD player takes two voltages: one for the circuitry and one for the motor. It sounds best when the motor is powered by a separate battery instead of both on one battery. This really cleaned up the sound and things are sounding way more analog with a lot less digital glare. Conclusion: Clean power seems to be very important when it comes to converting ones and zeros into an analog signal. (Not that this should come as a surprise to a lot of people)
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
I could see that. It was very surprising to me how much the sound improved by removing the motor from the battery power supply and putting it on a separate power supply. So not only clean power but dedicated power to avoid crosstalk, interference, whatever you want to call it. 
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
A quick update based on some learning lessons from last night’s listening session:

1) CD demagnetization is essential

I’m going to go out on a limb here and make the claim that whatever a demagnetizer does to a CD is fixing a fundamental problem of the CD medium. Every time I demag, I am happily surprised and think to myself, “this is what CDs are supposed to sound like.” I’ve made demagging part of my pre-listening ritual. It drastically knocks down digital glare.

2) Schumann resonator placement matters

I had one of my Schumann resonators on top of my speaker. I moved it directly on top of my CD player. Some frequencies were much improved. Others weren’t. The best location was closer to my CD player but not too close. It actually increased digital glare by behind too close. 

3) Battery powering the front end is a great idea

I have finally got my entire front end on battery power and the digital glare is virtually non-existent! Most analog sound that’s ever come out of my system. Dynamics don’t collapse like many people say. Of course I’m using large batteries which appears to be essential when using battery power supplies. I’ve got each component on its own battery and power supply. The takeaway here is that one should provide the cleanest power possible to their front end gear and when they think it’s as clean as it gets, make it cleaner. Moving my front end gear to dedicated battery power supplies has been the most impressive upgrade and now I’m wondering why it wasn’t the first audio project I did. Clean power is that essential.


mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
I will try that. I’ve got a spare piece of tourmaline that needs a home. What should I expect?
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