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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
phasecorrect's avatar
phasecorrect
2,013 posts
 
Some of the small ensemble jazz from that era was close miked...which makes a sax,etc sound "biting" or artificially bright...Blakey 'moanin" probably my fave from golden of riches jazz period...fwiw..
24 bit edition sounds nice
zd542
5,339 posts
 
"01-27-15: Maplegrovemusic
lots of variables . To blame sound on one piece of equipment is not accurate ."

That's correct. Even though you changed the CD players back and forth, and left the rest of the system unaltered, other things could be going on. Components don't always match well together. If you put your revealing CD player in 10 different system the sound will vary. Most likely, it will sound very close to what you are hearing now, in some of the systems, but in other setups, it can sound very different. That's why its so important to listen to components before you buy them.
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
Since I've never experienced your "too revealing" problem and have had a ton of CD/SACD players -- from $60 Toshibas to my current $3600 Oppo/Modwright -- I have to believe the problem lies elsewhere in your system. Without knowing the components of your system, though, it's impossible even to generalize.

One thing sure, IMO: It is NOT "just the nature of the recordings."
newbee
4,751 posts
 
Robster, I've never tried a tube buffer and it might work. You might post a question about the experience of others. FWIW, the single biggest component change I've made in my system which helped with early digital issues was the introduction of a tubed pre amp into my system (an AR SP-10) and a tubed CDP (Cal Aria). That was a long time ago. :-) My system has changed entirely since that time and, except for my main CDP's it is now all tubes and I have no 'digital' issues. FWIW.
sgordon1
413 posts
 
Are you paying attention to vibration control?
What is under your CD player?
Are the original feet still on it?
Have you tried removing them and using something else
instead? What kind of support (shelf) is it resting on?
How are you cleaning or treating a cd before playing it?
Are you using a cd mat?

If you play with these variables you might get more satisfying results...
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