How can I improve digital sound in my system?

[Beyondadream]

Im not happy with the sound from digital - 44.1khz uncompressed cds ripped via EAC and verified against the database as OK or Tidal HIFI.

The sound quality sounds thin and bright, glass like and the soundstage is poor (huge gap inbetween speakers, no instruments there).

It not very enjoyable and I quickly get bored of it. 30 mins and i want to turn it off.

Same cant be said for some of my vinyl records but I don't want to get in to format wars.

I am trying to find a solution so I can enjoy digital music. Any ideas?

 

[Tear Drop]

What do the CDs sound like before ripping? Do you have a CD player? You need a process of comparison and elimination to find the weak link.

 

[insider9]

What player are you using on your Mac Mini?

 

[davidf]

I'd say everything points to the Mac Mini at this point. How you're using it should be looked at (settings/apps etc).

 

[BigH]

How are your speakers positioned? Sounds like they could be too far apart. Try playing some mono music, does sound as in the centre or do hear 2 sound sources? Are the speakers in phase, don't just rely on the terminals, have been know to incorrected wired internally, if out of phase it will sound thin.

 

[BigH]

How are your speakers positioned? Sounds like they could be too far apart. Try playing some mono music, does it sound in the centre or do hear 2 sound sources? Are the speakers in phase, don't just rely on the terminals, have been know to incorrected wired internally, if out of phase it will sound thin.

 

[CnoEvil]

I would audition a Linn DS (probably not what you want to hear).

 

[newlash09]

May be your speakers are spaced to far away from each other, and toed in excessively. Try bringing them closer or opening the toe in a bit.

 

[newlash09]

That in my narrow room of 11ft wide, I like the sound when the speakers are placed 1ft from side walls. I get a lot of reflections and the sound stage seems to be expanded and wide.

 

[QuestForThe13thNote]

It won’t be to do with room positioning as all things being equal it’s a comparison with vinyl and ripped cd. It will be to do with the quality or type of dacs and the streamer, but more likely to do with the dacs, how revealing they are, and what sound presentation they give. But also it could be a built up taste thing of two different types of sources.

 

[newlash09]

Yeah you are right. If vinyl is sounding good and only digital is a problem

 

[insider9]

It may simply be down to preference. There's nothing wrong saying OP prefers one sound over the other. Other than DSP which would significantly and purposefully EQ the digital playback I can't see what can be done to improve things without big changes to the setup. DAC would not have as much impact.

 

[insider9]

Well he did say "soundstage is poor (huge gap inbetween speakers, no instruments there)."

Interesting how some would pay extra for what they would consider an airy presentation with lots of room around instruments and amazing clarity

 

[BigH]

Well he did say "soundstage is poor (huge gap inbetween speakers, no instruments there)."

I don't get that on my system and I'm not using an expensive DAC or streamer, in fact there is little difference between streaming and my quite expensive cdp. I would agree some music on vinyl does sound better than cd but much of that is down to the production rather than the system. Playing around with positioning is one thing to try, if there is a huge gap then there is something wrong. Hopefully the OP will be back and can give us more information. In various tests and reviews people have found very little difference between DACs.

 

[BigH]

Need to find the problem. Is a ripping problem, as said what does it sound like before ripping? He could borrow a DAC from a local dealer, see if that improves the problem. He did say on some vinyl it's not a problem, so I'm curious why on just some vinyl and not all.

It could be just his soundcard set up, what soundcard do you have? I did have a problem with mine at first until I changed the settings, it was set to low output. Now I bypass it straight into a DAC.

 

[Beyondadream]

Thanks for your help. The speakers are 4ft apart (each side of a 40" TV) on custom design speaker stands (got excellent reviews).

I must confess I do have a preference for vinyl. I want to take advantage of the huge libraries that Tidal have and enjoy the music. I am convinced it must be something wrong somewhere. So many people tell me how good digital is. I can't seem to get it to sound right. The sound via the DAC seem to come directly from the speaker and not fill the room or the space inbetween the speakers. Female vocals seem bright and not transparent. I feel like im listening to speakers and not the music if that makes sense.

The speakers are only a week old and not fully broken in yet. Some vinyl records sounded amazingly transparent and the music seemed to flow effortlessly through the speakers and fill the room and presented a nice 3d like sound stage. I don't expect a 1K dac to sound as good as a 4k turntable but I find the DAC unlistenable.

I used the latest Tidal app on the Mac Mini with Yosemite OS. Can't use later version of OS as the Dac is not compatible. The Tidal settings are HIFI, directly selecting Chord DAC and selecting to control volume via external (Amp). I tried using Audioquest jitterbug and audioquest usb cable to connect to the Dac.

 

[newlash09]

Well he did say "soundstage is poor (huge gap inbetween speakers, no instruments there)."

Interesting how some would pay extra for what they would consider an airy presentation with lots of room around instruments and amazing clarity 

My friend who showed me his Yamaha system the other day with active 12 inch drivers. Had my yamaha wxc-50 on loan. And his opinion was that it was 95% of his ten times as expensive north star dac. He has been urging me to loan my chord too for a comparison, which I haven't obliged so far to avoid a heart break

 

[BigH]

"The speakers are 4ft apart"

That seems too close unless you are only sitting 4 feet away. Generally recommended to be equal distance apart from your listening position. So if you are 10 feet away then about 10 feet apart. Although speakers do vary and some are a lot more directional than others and need more care when positioning. You may want to bring them away from the wall if they are close to it.

 

[Beyondadream]

I am sitting about 8ft away. Unfortunately I do not have a big room which Is why I chose smaller stand mounted speakers.

I think the main problem is in the digital section. Dac, Mac or Music etc. I cant seem to get it sounding nice with any music via digital.

I am looking to replace the amp next to a more suitable amp for the speakers. I not convinced that will solve the digital issue.

 

[newlash09]

8 feet is too much with stand mounts in my opinion. My qacoustics concept 40's image beautifully at 5 feet equidistant in every way. I break that and all is lost. So probably you are pushing too much at 8 ft.....

 

[BigH]

Mine are 8 foot apart, about 1.5 foot from wall adn I sit about 8-9 feet away. If they are futher apart then you do start getting gaps and if you play mono you hear sound from two speakers not down the centre. But it may depend on the speakers, mine are not fussy with positioning and are not directional, toeing or out hardly makes any difference. But 4 feet you won't get a huge soundstage.

 

[Beyondadream]

I will try moving my seating position to 5ft away as a test later to see if it makes a difference. It sounded great with vinyl at 8ft away so I can't see that being the main problem. I suspect the DAC or mac mini. Could try my windows laptop later too.

 

[newlash09]

I think you are on the right track. The ATC SCM 11's are awesome speakers, but 8 feet is a bit too much for them too

 

[Vladimir]

You're powering 85dB ATCs with 18W tube amp. Perhaps they are underpowered for the dynamic swings of digital.

 

[Deleted member 108165]

My listening position is at the apex of a 3 metre triangle from my speakers. My diminutive PMC's have no problem producing a clearly defined central stereo image with both digital and analogue playback. I would suggest that there is a problem somewhere in the chain, but it is not with the speakers.