Many people prefer listening to analogue sources over digital, even if they have a very competent digital set up. I've always counted myself amongst them even though I can happily listen to my CD players for hours on end without an 'fatigue' creeping in. Nevertheless, swap back to, say, vinyl, after a long digital session and it is like relaxing into a hot bath. Why? Well the one thing that has always irritated me with digital is the 'glare'. I am not alone as I have heard and read of may people saying the same thing. The sound is good but there is an effect in the mid and top that somehow diminishes the 'listenability' compared to analogue. This is often refered to as 'glare' but other words can be used to describe the effect, for example 'sheen', 'brightness', 'hardness', 'fowardness'. and 'spotlit'. There are various methods used to ameliorate this - using valves in the player or DAC, a valve buffer, rolling off the top end of the player, Pioneer's Legato Link system and so on. Pretty much everyone agrees this is an issue.

I have always assumed that this was down to the nature of digital itself. Until recently when I installed a passive pre-amp into my system, and discovered that the glare has disappeared altogether. I now have a wonderfully neutral and 'hear-through' mid and top, and what's more, cymbals are now being resolved correctly, with lovely decay and reverb, something I have never heard from CD before on any system at any price or level of competence. Listening to Steely Dan's 'Gaucho' last night and it was like I had never really heard this recording before. Pure, perfect sound forever? Well...yes. I had really assumed that digital glare was a limitation of the medium, that it was on the disc. But it seems that it isn't. And thinking about it, back in the olden days when I would tape other peoples CDs onto cassette, it did make the glare vanish - and I had always put this down to a degradation in the sound from using a budget tape deck. But I have also read about people recording CD onto a quality R2R and getting a 'better' sound. How could this be?

Now apologies if you already knew this. But I am wondering what the reason for this revelation is. A pet theory I have just pulled out of the air is that the output level of most if not all CD players and DACs is just way too high and that running that signal through an active pre-amp i.e another gain stage is both unnecessary and counter-productive. It is that extra gain stage that is causing the 'digital glare'. Copying the CD to R2R or cassette bypasses that extra gain stage and with the lower output of those devices, the problem is sidestepped. Now I suppose this is not the case for all active pre-amps , just those several dozens (both stand alone and integrated) that I have heard. Fair enough if that is the case. Does anyone else relate to what I am going on about here? Is there possibly another reason for this effect? Your opinions welcomed.