I think Rodargent has a very good point. The treble on some CDs is extremely shrill and after all this time I still think, what the hell's wrong with my stereo and get pretty disappointed with the sound. Then I put on a well recorded CD and ahhhhhh.... So there are Cds that for me at least are almost unlistenable. Unfortunately I like the music on some of those bad sounding CDs.
So a lot of this problem can be software based. Of course, if the treble is always harsh then you probably have a hardware problem. A bad CD on such a system can leave one seeking shelter and give you a negative attitude about audio in general.
Reasons IMO some CDs sound bad is the technology used to record them in the first place. Recordings made when tubes were just going out and being replaced by early solid state can be harsh. Also early DDD digital recording can sound nasty but with no tape hiss:^). Authentic classical instruments (which I like a lot) recorded either way can sound extra harsh.
Classicalfred, have you noticed some of these problems with recordings of specific eras? Also you might want to audition some tube buffer stages, preamps or CDPs with tube output stages and/or warmer cabling.
So a lot of this problem can be software based. Of course, if the treble is always harsh then you probably have a hardware problem. A bad CD on such a system can leave one seeking shelter and give you a negative attitude about audio in general.
Reasons IMO some CDs sound bad is the technology used to record them in the first place. Recordings made when tubes were just going out and being replaced by early solid state can be harsh. Also early DDD digital recording can sound nasty but with no tape hiss:^). Authentic classical instruments (which I like a lot) recorded either way can sound extra harsh.
Classicalfred, have you noticed some of these problems with recordings of specific eras? Also you might want to audition some tube buffer stages, preamps or CDPs with tube output stages and/or warmer cabling.