Does Steely Dan sound bright to you?

Thanks for the answers so far. Since *everything* else sounds not-bright, I cannot think it has anything to do with physical factors. This narrows it down to the specific versions of the songs I'm playing. I need to compare the CD and the Amazon HD recordings again to see if perhaps it's the Amazon version. I may be misremembering it happening on the CD.

@tablejockey Thanks. Would like to hear on vinyl again.
@artemus The brightness has always been there. If anything, the system changes have all helped with brightness, overall -- I'm now at the point where only a couple Steely Dan tunes (and some random others) sound bright.

The streaming is "ultra hd" on Amazon. I believe that is beyond CD quality. The brick wall is not affecting other things -- the deflecting boards help with that. (An amazing hack which deserves a detailed write up.)


@ebm NO! It’s not about music to listen to, try out, etc. It’s an *example* of music-that-sounds-bright and it’s open to other examples. But thanks for your help in categorizing my posts. Maybe I can check with you first, next time.

Trying it in a store is a good idea.

Here’s a bit from the band and their longtime engineer. Vinyl fans, get ready to crow.

"Three years ago Scheiner, and to a lesser degree Becker, went into fairly great detail about the analogue versus digital debate, while Fagen only let slip that he felt that "digital sound loosens the fillings in your teeth". So three years on, with the dramatically fast developments in digital technology, has anything changed for Scheiner, and how are Fagen’s teeth? Did they survive his work on The Nightfly, which was one of the first best-selling albums recorded to digital, and for years a popular demonstration record in hi-fi stores across the globe? Surely it didn’t sound that bad? And what does he make of digital today?

"I haven’t listened to The Nightfly since I made it," replied Fagen, "but the people in these hi-fi stores must have liked something about it. I think most of the way a record sounds is independent of whether it was recorded digital or analogue. So much has to do with the miking, the material, the studios, and the engineer. Having said that, I do think that digital has improved a lot over the years. It doesn’t have that weird scratchy high end any more, and the bass sounds a little better too. But frankly I don’t hear that much of a difference between the two media. As long as bass and drums are recorded to analogue you’re OK. So we recorded the basic tracks to analogue, and for convenience’s sake we loaded them into Pro Tools for overdubbing. To use analogue for overdubbing is just too much of a pain in the ass."

Many would agree with Fagen on these points, but strikingly, Scheiner’s attitude appears to have hardened in the last three years. "I don’t think digital will ever catch up with analogue," he says uncompromisingly. "Digital is convenient and it is good for doing trench work, but as far as sound is concerned, it’s definitely analogue. I recorded the basic tracks to Quantegy GP9 tape, 15ips, +3dB operating level, Dolby SR. All edits on the backing tracks were done in analogue, and we then digitised everything, transferring stuff to Pro Tools HD at 24/96."

https://www.soundonsound.com/people/donald-fagen

Ok, good. I think I've gotten a reality check, here. Appreciate it.

@decooney  Thanks, and I should probably know better to ask such a vague question. Given the variety of media and masterings out there, my question almost doesn't deserve asking because it merely leads to differences based not on hearing (though that is possible) but on a variety of factors which are either unknown or in conflict.

Thanks, all. The tragedy is that with all the information which could be conveyed with the music we stream, there's precious little that you get along with it. CDs and of course vinyl albums gave us all we needed to nerd out about the details of a recording. I don't know which Aja I'm listening to when it's on Amazon.

If one looks at the link I posted earlier, there was not only a preference for analogue for playback but also for recording.

"Scheiner adds that he 'seldom' uses EQ during the mix, and that Morph The Cat was recorded via Clinton's Neve 8078 directly to analogue 24-track. Straightforward recording to analogue without much processing is now Fagen's favoured approach, says he. "It's the sound I like. It's not necessary to have the latest equipment."

To be clear -- the effect I'm hearing is on Aja and Gaucho only. On Aja -- especially piano on Home at Last which is a bit shrill and much more on Gaucho, especially Babylon Sisters and other tracks on Gaucho which are bright. Again, mostly these are great sounding tracks but there is a harshness that is not present on other Dan/Fagen/Becker albums.

Other Steely Dan tunes and albums sound fine. Agreed, these are reference discs and that's why I'm raising the issue. Because if anything should sound good, these do.
 
@gosta  I suspect that Gaucho (and possibly Nightfly) crossed a line (accidentally) as the industry moved to digital. My guess is that this was recognized and corrected. There is a comment from their Scheiner or Fagen down below  on this thread (around the time of Morph's release) where they go back to analog recording. I've noticed that the brightness I'm referring to is NOT there on Kamakiriad, Sunken Condos, or Becker's albums. And again, as decooney and others point out, it could be the mastering or release for one medium or another that's at fault.

@sokogear You make a powerful case to this SD fan for a turntable!

Since I don't have one, the "they" in your comment is unfortunately very hard to get stabilized, as the thread below details. Many masterings, releases, etc. moot the genuine interest of my question. I'm amazed at how many responses this thread continues to get. I wish I could retitle the thread, "Post if you like SD" because that's now the fire-giving ember.

@dinov No, not all were top notch. Read guitarist Denny Dias on the DBX fiasco of the Katy Lied album. 
https://sdarchive.com/dennys3.html

@mijostyn Afraid that won't explain it. No peaks there, at least not on REW scans. All looks good in both SPL and Spectrogram graphs. No ringing either on Waterfall graphs.