Another possible cause to the "loss of air" in the highs may be found in your digital front end. The ambience cues (or "air") can be easily lost at the digital source, and no speaker itself can help recover something that isn't there in the first place.
If your front end does not have 24bit converters, you are in need of an update. I have owned 8 different digital front ends myself, and the improvement with the 24 bit converters yielded the largest improvements when it comes to depth and ambience cues. These newer converters just sound more "real" (even when they are used in a 16bit format. I guess the engineering 8bit overkill must really help resolve those little sonic details)
Note: I am not suggesting looking at somehting like the newer Sony player, etc. I am talking about something like the MSB or Bel Canto i.e "high end" digital. (Japanese players have always seemed to really constrict "the air" in the highs. I strongly suspect that this is due to their use of very meager op/amps in their output sections)
Good luck on your quest for those realistic highs. It took me almost 12 years to get them back, after I swithced from vinyl to digital.
If your front end does not have 24bit converters, you are in need of an update. I have owned 8 different digital front ends myself, and the improvement with the 24 bit converters yielded the largest improvements when it comes to depth and ambience cues. These newer converters just sound more "real" (even when they are used in a 16bit format. I guess the engineering 8bit overkill must really help resolve those little sonic details)
Note: I am not suggesting looking at somehting like the newer Sony player, etc. I am talking about something like the MSB or Bel Canto i.e "high end" digital. (Japanese players have always seemed to really constrict "the air" in the highs. I strongly suspect that this is due to their use of very meager op/amps in their output sections)
Good luck on your quest for those realistic highs. It took me almost 12 years to get them back, after I swithced from vinyl to digital.