Lots of good suggestions above. (The point about preamp/amp impedance compatability has to do with a preamp having a high output impedance driving an amp having a low input impedance, causing rolled-off bass response. This could help explain prominent treble response as well as weak bass, but would not by itself have an impact on treble graininess.) I suspect situations like yours are a lot more common than many audiophiles care to admit, so bravo for facing your perdicament honestly, and don't feel alone. As has been posited, there are more possible culprits than you can shake a stick at. This just points up the fact that the most important component to achieving a good-sounding system isn't anything you can buy - it's the audiophile him- or herself. I'm sure that if you keep working at it, learning as you go like we all do, your efforts and expense will be rewarded in the end, simply because you are using your ears.
grainy sounding high end system
Hi, I hope this is the right forum to ask this question. I have a quite decent audio system at home, which consists of Pioneer CLD-98 laserdisc/CD-transport, Bel Canto DAC 1.1, Conrad-Johnson Premier 7b preamplifier, Mark Levinson 333 amplifier and Dunlavy SC-IV speakers. Though this is a "high-end" system on paper, it sounds not very high-end to me: the overall sound has a grainy quality, it has compressed dynamics, the low end is quite lousy and the highs are too prominent. Why is this happening to me? I have invested a lot into this hobby and is this my reward? What could be the reason for the abovementioned grainy sound? Maybe I have to get a better CD-transport, like the TEAC P-30 for example.