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Do You Ever Get Glare/Raspy Sound on High Pitched Female Vocal Lines?

I sometimes get a harsh glare or slightly raspy sound on female vocal lines when they sing loud, high pitched notes.  It’s hard to explain the sound exactly, but if you’ve ever experienced it, you’ll know what I’m speaking of.  Two examples are Norah Jones, Don’t Know Why at 1:57 with line  “You’ll be ON my mind”.   The other is Michael Bluble’s Quando, Quando, Quando featuring Nelly Furtardo.  Her line “I can’t wait a moment more, Tell me quando, quando, quando” at 1:53 is another good example.  This happens at moderate to fairly loud volume levels. 

Trying to determine if it’s coming from the midrange section or quasi ribbon tweeter, I’ve disconnected the speaker jumpers from one while keeping the other jumped and found it occurs in both the midrange and the tweeters.  I’ve also swapped out two other DACs and have bypassed the preamp by going directly to the amp from the DACS, but it makes no difference.  It doesn’t sound like clipping distortion or typical speaker breakup.  I’ve even inserted 1 ohm resistors on the Magnepans  and while it reduces it a bit, it’s still there.  I can also hear it to a somewhat lesser degree on my old Theil 1.5s and KEF KS50s at fairly loud, but not crazy volume levels.  Both of those speakers are driven with 400 watt @ 4 Ohms and a 300 watt @ 4 Ohms amps respectively.  I can’t imagine that I’m clipping the amps.

Does anyone else have this occur on their systems?  Any ideas on what’s going on here?

My system is Magnepan 3.7x speakers, PS Audio Airlens, Stellar Gold DAC, PMG Signature preamp & BHK 250 amp, streaming Tidal. 

stevehardy1
curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
5,940 posts
 

Yes, most definitely!

 I love Joni Mitchell, but certain parts of some of her vocal range just hurt my ears.  I love most Bop, but certain Saxophones hurt my ears.  I listen to rock a bit and certain electric guitar, organ and piano parts hurt my ears.  I don’t listen at high volume.  Seems my KEF speakers with their aluminum tweeters and midranges were most of the problem. Years ago I had Maggies and still have Acoustat Model X speakers on another system. I don’t listen to them much for the same reasons. I went back to speakers made with silk and paper drivers and it took are of most of it.  

Part of your issues could also be with your amps.  I went from a SS receiver to a SS class A/B integrated amp to a hybrid preamp and tube  class A amps to back to all SS and now I’m totally hybrid (PS Audio BHK Signature preamp and BHK 300 amps). The tube input on the preamp gives the sound a bit of warmth and the Mosfet output gives a little bit more. I’ve been toying with going back to an all tube, but living in the Midwest my AC works hard enough just keeping up with what I already have.

BTW, How do you like the new preamp? I’ve been thinking about taking advantage of the $3K trade in.

All the best.

erik_squires
17,538 posts
 

This can happen in an overly reflective room.  Try sitting close to the speakers, turn the volume down and see if it still happens.  If that glare goes away it's the room being extra bright. 

stevehardy1 OP
122 posts
 

I love most Bop, but certain Saxophones hurt my ears.

Yes, I get the same issue with certain sax solos.  I'm glad to know that I'm not the only person experiencing this issue. 

BTW, How do you like the new preamp? I’ve been thinking about taking advantage of the $3K trade in.

I also took advantage of the $3000 trade in with my BHK preamp.  I do miss some of the warmth from the BHK tubes, but other than that, I'm extremely happy.  Imaging, detail and dynamics have greatly improved.  I was very surprised how the dynamics improved, as I wasn't expecting that.  The PMG preamp is a game changer for me.

ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,413 posts
 

@erik_squires 

+1 I would put the speaker / room interaction. I used to have ribbon speakers and they are soooo sensitive to setup. That is where I would put my effort. In addition to moving them. you might try piling couch pillows at reflection points or behind them. you can do quick experiments when, as you have, identified specific passages that create the problem. 

zlone
1,325 posts
 

Not looking to turn this into a cable discussion, but it can be caused, or tamed, by cable choices. 

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