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Classical music listening issue - high strings

This is an audiophile question rather than a strictly musical one but, since it applies mostly to classical music, I thought I'd post it here.

I am experiencing excessive harshness, brightness and what I'd describe as distortion in higher passages for violin sections in listening to my system. The harshness becomes present around the F-A (2nd above middle C, so freq of ~750-1000Hz). It is an issue for string sections only. Individual violins sound great up there, as do high winds, so it isn't a problem with my treble.

For reference, here is my system: CD player -> Audio GD Digital Interface re-clocker --> Metrum Octave DAC -> Passive preamp (Lightspeed Attenuator) -> W4S ST-500 amp (Class D) --> Magnestand (Gunn'd) MMGs.

Here are my leading theories:

1) Digital recording of high string sections is still a problem.

2) The Class D amp adds noise at higher frequencies. (I'm channelling morricab here.)

3) Room interactions. (My room & set-up is normal and symmetric although there are two intrusions into the room.)

4) Jitter. (The re-clocker should help a lot with this issue but the Audio GD is not a state-of-the-art unit like an Off-Ramp or such.)

What are your theories about what is causing this problem? Any hints on diagnosing or solving the problem?


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Topic - Classical music listening issue - high strings - jult52 10:22:01 06/28/12 (49)

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