Help, too bright

Maybe it was just the recording, since it was the 1st time with a MP3 recording? How long have you had the system? Other standard recordings do this too? I agree that the IC's you have should be upgraded (and speaker cables)but I would wait until you get your stands and then play around a little bit. Room acoustics (do you have wood floors, bare walls, etc.), speaker placement, vibration and isolation, etc. I would then look into your cabling as that final icing.

Regards,

Mp3's sound bad even at 320kbs if you ask me, they are best played in the boom box outside. I copy all my cd's as wave files.

Dave

Alright, it might just be the recording. I will wait to do upgrades until I get my stands. I ordered Skylan 24" speaker stands. Carpet floors btw.

How long have you owned the NAD C320BEE?
It could be a break-in problem. I own the same integrated and have experienced the same brightness.
While the C 320BEE sounds nice with piano and female vocals, If I play pop or rock music, I find that I want to turn the music down. I’m hearing an over exaggeration of cymbals and snare drums -- too much pop/snap. Plus it's not sweet or liquid, it almost sound sibilant and tinny -- not smooth like everyone else is hearing. Right now I'm giving the amp a couple of months to break-in and changing my interconnects to Tara Labs and Audioquest. It could be that the 320BEE just doesn't work with my set-up or I'm expecting to much from a $400. integrated -- it's still a bargain though! I'll let you know soon of my results. Also my Uncle bought the NAD C 370 and had the same experience. He told me that it takes about 3 months to truly balance out!

The amps always will sound the same,,,,You will just get used to the sound. Think of it if it happened the other way around, and you went to a tube preamp,and found it a bit liquidy,,,well, you will get used to it after awhile...

I dont think you should use cables as tone controls. play with the off-axis aligmnent of your sweetspot.