is it just me, new Steely Dan cd's too brite snare


I've had this debate on a Steely Dan webpage

several of the latest dan albums
Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go
and the new Donald Fagen album
seem to be recorded beautifully, all the nuances, close mixed horns, incredibly lush mix

everything perfect except for the snare drum which is way up in the mix and headache inducing

it isn't my sytem and it's worse on Two Against Nature
especially the title track and West of Hollywood
it's so bad I have to listen in the next room

EMG recorded in analog is a little less bright
and Don's new spectacular Morph the Cat (MtC) has some hot snare in the mix

the last two albums feature Keith Carlock who is an incredible drummer, but Don has him in tight snare timekeeping with little room for fills on most of MtC

has Fagen lost his upper frequency end of his hearing?
is he mixing things hot for jumpy mid fi reproduction?
or am I hallucinating?
128x128audiotomb
I have EMG on vinyl and it sounds much better than the digital versions I have. TAN is a bit forward. Morph sounds perfect on my systems. I think Steve Hoffman is going to master the vinyl for Morph. I can't wait for that one.

Tim
Is it just me, too many new CDs suffer from this problem? Seems I'm fighting it all the time!
I agree with Rja that too many CDs suffer from this problem which is why I own an equalizer that I can choose to either use or bypass. Makes a wonderful difference, especially with Redbook cd items. I am able to program the way I prefer to hear the music instead of the weaknesses of the format that it comes on. I really don't have the same problem very often with the SACDs.

To bright, no.
To forward in the mix, yes
Not headache inducing but for my tastes the snares are over emphasised.