Harshness! It can come from any number of souces. It can be a bad recording, noisy power, poor set-up, any of the various pieces of equipment, cables, etc, or any combination thereof. The lower the total level of harshness, the louder I can play the music and the longer I can listen to it without fatigue. :o)
Listening Fatigue
What do you guys think contributes more to listening fatigue. Volume, or the type of electronics or speaker you have? thanks