Is it me or new audio gear is too perfect and give ear fatigue?

Oh boy.

I don’t agree with this line of thought mainly because of course, my own experience. I have finally managed to take the upgrade journey to class A, fully balanced dual mono equipment from input to speakers.

I have found the equipment is most certainly not at fault as it is doing its job of reproducing most accurately the analog or digital  input. Key words being input and speakers. The quality of the recording and the equipment used to capture and or even create the music play a large part in of themselves. The speakers play both sides of the equation, attempting to reproduce the most accurate input it receives but also a matter of preference since all of our individual hearing is as varied and as different as our opinions. I love what my system creates from the inputs I provide it, and I love how my speakers represent what the equipment is giving them. But it also shows the many flaws in the recordings and other input aspects I provide it. Thanks for letting me offer my opinion!

Isn’t it that if it’s brand new gear it needs to be broken in a little to smooth out some of the edginess.

New cables can offer a bright sound and then when used for a while they soften.

During the waiting period and if you have tone controls you can reduce the treble. And then bring it back after the warm up phase.

Also a lot has to do with ears adjusting to the new experience.

You may notice brightness but you also may want to consider the improved detail elsewhere as a way to appreciate improvement of system

I agree. Most modern gear today sounds awful. 😬 It looks ugly and is very expensive. Buy vintage if you can. 

Wow such lame responses from the Medicare crowd. 

I agree. Most modern gear today sounds awful. 😬 It looks ugly and is very expensive. Buy vintage if you can. 

GET OFF MY LAWN, YOU DAMN KIDS!!!

"@arize84 Topping makes some DACs that are quite smooth on top and measure well and are also inexpensive."

Topping Dacs do not sound good in the mid range with human voices. They sound shrill. Many Ess dacs sounds like this.

Quality modern equipment sounds FAR better than vintage. Those who push vintage gear yearn for nostalgia.

One good thing about tube gear is that, given you’re happpy with the overall sound, you don‘t have to buy new gear but different tubes only to tweak the sound. There‘s crazy expensive tubes, of course, but if you desire those they‘re still cheaper than, say, a new amp.

Maybe a route worth considering.

I have 2 DACs , one was the darling of ASR,  the other would fail ASR miserably....guess which one is in use and which one is currently disconnected?

Yes, burn-in can reduce initial apparent brightness over time.

Yes, the latest crop of tube amps (as a group) are less warm & syrupy sounding.

Yes, system-matching has a large effect on bright vs not-bright sound (brightness can be added or subtracted by canny component choices & matching).

But I’m a little surprised that no one here touched on a very relevant fact of audio life: the ever-present RESOLUTION vs MUSICALITY debate. This takes place in two intersecting spheres:

1 - Design/Build/Manufacture: Some audio designers & companies are known for emphasizing resolution and detail retrieval ("plankton") over all else. Considering that all audio gear gives, at best, a carefully chosen version of how music sounds IRL, this tendence to chase resolution is a legitimate choice...though one that disagrees with me and has since my youth (not a new thing)

2 - Audio Consumers: Similarly, individual listeners also have preferences in the gear they invest in. Some audiophiles go crazy for highly resolving, forensically detailed gear, while others go in the other direction, towards "musicality" (by which I mean similarity to the sound of music IRL), which includes a natural weight in the upper midrange and a slow roll-off in the treble, matching what you’ll hear in any good concert hall

In my experience, a lot of brightness is actually dialed in, selected by both parties in the audio hobby. My preferences take me in the other direction and always have. I’ve heard so much live music of all kinds, and other than some amplification anomalies in live electrified shows, I can’t think of any music events that were consistently bright in the way certain components and speakers are.

Topping Dacs do not sound good in the mid range with human voices. They sound shrill. Many Ess dacs sounds like this.

@laoman 

Obviously, since you quoted my prior post, you can imagine I don't agree with this. I use recordings I made as reference; I know what they should sound like- I was there at the recording session. The Topping D90SE is quite neutral and does female voices just fine.

Noticing this thread again. Let me say categorically high quality contemporary gear and fatigue = no. Fatigue in the past was common. In general, in all but budget gear or really incompatible gear no fatigue should never happen. Natural and unfatiguing is the rule of good gear these days.