Making time for music again

[goraman]

Hi all,
After total frustration with music servers failing and sorting out I tunes,I took a break and a step back.
Picked up a decent transport and started spinning CD's again.
I started thinking about a used Audio Note CDT 1 and it brought me back to my love hate relationship with AN of UK gear.
I love the simple understated look of it more as I'm getting older, I once asked if a Dac 3 had been taken out of the box? My joke fell flat on the salesmen.
The thing I dislike, not to mention how expensive this brand of kit can be is, the performance seems so distant in so meany recordings.
When did music being forward become a bad thing, some of the best times listing to live music have been in small night clubs,ever hear a horn or drums in a club or actually feel there presents- it makes the hair stand up on your neck at times.

And it doesn't tire me out, in fact if the preformance seems off in the distance I lose interest. Id rather be sorting socks or picking lint from my navel.

Ever like something you have been told is undesirable by discriminating experts?
Keep spouses out of this please.

[Puffin]

I like an up-front sound, but not all the time, so then I simply turn it down. I like to feel the smack of a stick on the snare or the hammer of the bass drum thwacking the skin, and the thrum of the bass geetar. I am also with you on hearing a horn as near to live as possible. If a system doesn't drive the room, sounds like it is making an apology for itself, then it is not for me.

[hifinutt]

I find an gear very reasonably priced but perhaps that's just in UK
certainly their new cd transport is worth a look

http://www.bd-audio.co.uk/product/audio-note-cdt-zero-mkii-transport/

I do find my streamer unreliable sometimes and mainly use good old fashioned cd transport with a brilliant American brand called msb [cd data 4]

[DSJR]

Acoustic instruments are always a thrill to hear close up, but please be aware that once they get recorded in a studio, dynamics are squashed, timbres are altered etc. etc.

If you want a 'live' sound on playback, look out for some mid size active 'pro' monitors! No passive crossovers to gently sweeten the sound (in the best examples) or wrongly harshen it (in less well designed models), a tighter bass, sharper treble and NONE of the artificial 'analogue warmth' of domestic gear.

When I had them, my ATC100A's when played loudly on well recorded 1950's jazz recordings (100 - 110db as measured on a meter), could mimic a live jazz trio in a local pub. Trouble is, the sound collapsed when they were played quietly, something quite outside their comfort zone until the 'SL' mods came along some years later.