taming female voice


My system consists of meadowlark kestral 2's a birdland odeon lite dac run through a cheap toshiba transport and a cayin ta-30 integrated tube amp with tube audio design speaker cables and interconnects along with the same powercord. The room demensions are 11.5 wide and 14.5 long with french doors open on the long end the speakers are also firing down the longer part of the room. As far as room treatments go, all I have are some pillows stacked against the walls next to the speakers for side reflection.
My problem is that whenever I play female singers they really seem to zing my ears, that being said I dont listen quietly not stupid loud..about 9-10 o'clock on the dac. Male singers seem to not zing the ears. Please offer suggestions! Thanks
sean34

Showing 9 responses by sean34

thankyou all very much for your input, to tell you the truth it never occured to me that it could be the meadowlarks as they are very broken in. I will try another source as the birdland is not the warmest of dacs. Audiokinesis, thanks for the insiteful response, I will try your suggestions...can you tell me who makes good REASONABLE absorbtion panels and what did you mean by diffusion on a wall? Thanks again, Sean.
The singers I am refering to are Eva Cassidy, some Diana Krall, Nora Jones does it etc....
audiokinesis, I did what you said and tried the nearfield listening and it did not change. I guess that leaves me with either the transport or dac to try next, any suggestions on a dac or transport that you guy's like. I would like to keep it under 700$
The cable I have may be the problem, cheap interconnects and copper speaker cable from Paul at tube audio. Most people have told me that the interconnects are most important, how much do I have to spend to get good ones? I would like to stay under 150$.
s23chang, how do you mean it sounded bad? Mine does not sound bad, I don't think it is the dac that is causing my problem.
Can you recomend one that you heard that would be good with tube amps. I love the sound of tubes but don't want to lose any low level detail and also need one that delivers the bass and brings out the great midrange that tubes produce.