How to remove harshness from my digital gear

I have Dynaudio Contour 1.3mkII speakers. They can tend towards the "bright" side or knock your socks off, all depending upon what you feed them. They knock my socks off mostly everytime these days, except perhaps with the very worst digital recordings, very few in fact.

I feed them:

Squeezebox TOuch->audioquest TOSLINK digital IC ->mhdt COnstantine SS DAC -> DNM Reson IC -> Audio Research sp16 tube pre-amp -> DNM Reson IC ->Bel CAnto ref1000m monoblocks-> Audioquest cv 6 wires -> Dynaudios.

ARC tube pre-amp is the biggest key to avoiding digital harshness I would say. A good tube pre-amp or tube buffer as Elizabeth suggests might be the most effective way to tame the harshness in OPs case as well I suspect.

A good tube pre-amp might be the ticket.

I also have the Dynaudios well apart jut a foot or two from sidewalls and with tweeters facing to the outside of my listening position, not firing direct. That alone (speaker placement/orientation) is an easy tweak to try without changing anything. This also tend to enable a bigger and more holographic soundstage in my small 12X12 listening room as well I find. The Dynaudios are great at that when set up accordingly.

The Dyns also tend to have just the right amount of dynamic attack and bite in the higher frequencies, very revealing but without being harsh or irritating this way. I love that about them! The Esotar tweeters Dynaudio uses are fantastic, but seem to require a bit of proper taming in set up it seems in order to be well behaved, especially with many digital recordings.

Some of the best sounds I have heard at dealer showrooms over the years have come from Dynaudios set up this way, much farther apart and closer to sidewalls than many and with tweeters aimed mostly but not necessarily directly forward, towards the outside of sweet/prime listening spot, not at it.

"Mapman,

do you mean your mkII's face "out" rather than the usual midfield "in" setup?

If so, by about how much (how many degrees angle)?"

No they are angled slightly in, but located fairly far apart (9' or so in a 12'X12' room, and only 4 feet or so in front of my listening position on a couch close to rear wall. Tweeters are aimed well to the outside of my ears. Actual placement and orientation will vary per room, but having the tweeters not fire directly at you might be of benefit with some Dynaudios I have found. This produces a large soundstage with excellent imaging in my room. It's not a nearfield type setup like might also be used in similar tight quarters. It's an easy tweak to try before changing anything. I have found ways to make various gear combos, even all SS ones, work very well using this technique.

Also agree that getting a handle on jitter is important, but knowing how much of a problem that really is up front is not easily determined. reclockers and playing with digital cable lengths can only help, the question will be more how much in any particular case.

BTW I have other speakers (OHMs) running in other rooms through in wall speaker wiring from the same rig as the Dyns. Plus I've swapped speakers in different rooms from time to time. I believe the attributes the OP describes can be common with some Dynaudio speakers. Mine are definitely not as laid back as many. S

o getting a handle on the setup with those is definitley the first step IMHO before changing or adding anything. IT makes all the difference between audio nirvana Dynaudio is capable of delivering and a much compromised listening experience.

My setup with the Dynaudios in that small room is definitely one that demands your attention and then keeps you sucked in for the duration.

Personally, I have not found digital harshness to be a problem with most any digital gear I have acquired in recent years, even with Japanese brands like Marantz or Denon. Using a player takes some of the guesswork out but my opinion is that most cases of digital brightness or harshness these days is due to other factors, not the digital itself. DIfferent digital gear will sound different on a revealing system, but I have not heard any sound inherently bright or harsh in my system for many years. There has always been a way to make it work, usually having to do with synergy of gear overall and room acoustics. Nothing uniqque to digital there! Its just the details of setup that might be needed to make the digital sound good may not be the same as with phono, for example, unless both sources are put together in a manner where both tend to sound inherently similar to start with.

FWIW, I never play CDs directly on my system anymore. THey get ripped to music server and played from there using Squeezebox or similar network player with external DAC. This approach takes a lot of the guesswork and uncertainties associated with more error prone real time reading of data on an optical disk and the potential effect of this on jitter, etc. out of the process. Not to say that jitter might not be lowered even further in each case resulting in better clarity, resolution etc., , but I find this puts things in a pretty good place soundwise in terms of no inherent harshness in general. Just my experience.....

Also its worth saying that there will ALWAYS be some CD recordings that are inherently bright due to the way they are produced and mastered. Many newer rock/pop "loudness wars" type recordings come off relatively harsh compared to others. Many others that are mastered and produced better do not. More loudness generally means more of whatever there is in the recording to start with, good or bad. When the waveform peaks get clipped in the process, which is not uncommon in many modern pop/rock recordings, well, there you go, it is what it is and best you can do is damage control.