Is revealing always good?


I recently bought a very revealing and transparent CD player (and AVM player). Because I listen to redbook CD's and 705 of the CD's I listen to are jazz recordings from ca. 1955-1963 the recordings often have bad "digititus." The piano's ring, clarinet is harsh, transients are blurred --- just the nature of the recordings. With a revealing CD player, all this was palpably evident so much so that at least 1/2 those CD's were rendered unlistenable. Now, with a cheaper, more colored CD player (a new Creek) --- not nearly as revealing --- one that "rounds off" some of this digititus, these CD's are again listenable.

So... is revealing a particularly good thing for redbook CD playback? I think not. is "colored" always a bad thing? I'd say no. At least for CD playback. Thoughts?
robsker

Showing 2 responses by jafreeman

Robsker, if you are using the stock tubes supplied by AVA, try replacing them with something else, e.g., tubes recommended by ARC and sold by your high-end dealer who may represent ARC products. i did this with two older AVA fet valve amps, and the etch and grit came down a lot. Are you in the Twin Cities area?
Rob, regarding tube equivalents for your 6CG7's, just call one of the many on-line tube stores. I had the convenience of going to my high-end retailer, who gave me a set of Sovtek tubes, supplied by ARC for retail replacements in their gear. In the case of my AVA amps, circa 2000, Russian beat Chinese to a very high degree of improvement, but there a lots of fine tubes that will improve your sound. Also, if you have been under the AVA philosophy of "any cable will do", maybe look into some finer cords and cables, but don't spend too much--save for your next amp upgrade.