speaker distortion - classical music

What is the source of the music -- SACDs? CDs? MP3s? Internet radio? Classical music quickly reveals the sonic limitations of lossy compression, particularly ones digitized from analog originals. Make sure the problem isn't in the data before you blame your equipment.

If you want lossless files then you have to go with FLAC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Lossless_Audio_Codec

Interesting. Good catch!

delete...

I use iTunes as the primary source for my hifi system. I've gotten varying results, but usually it's fine. You have to disable anything in iTunes that would process the sound, e.g. Sound Check, Sound Enhancer. I have used the graphic equalizer, and would probably prefer it to an external processor.

Unfortunately computer systems don't give you any indication how they are processing sound. If you get the wrong settings, it is easy to get multiple conversions between 44.1 Khz and 96 KHz. E.g if the system switches processing speed (e.g. because you switch between CD and movie), iTunes will sometimes retain the speed it had at startup, creating a conversion. At times I found restarting iTunes will help the sound.

You may also want to experiment with the Audio/Midi utility. This lets you set speed and format of the output. CDs are recorded as 44.1 KHz. Most DA converters work at some multiple of 48 KHz (typically 96). You can get the conversion from iTunes or your receiver/DA converter, depending upon whether you set the output for the original 44.1 or the speed used by your DA system. You may get different results. I normally run the output at 96 KHz, letting iTunes do the speed conversion.

I also find that an impression of distortion can come from the speakers. I have several I've used in my living room. The best are ADS L500s (from the 1970s). Vienna Acoustics Haydn are close in sound, though a slightly larger speaker would do better. (The Haydns are really surround speakers.) However with Paradigm Studio 20's I get an impression of muddiness. I have no reason to think that the speakers are actually distorting. I suspect it's the hump in upper bass response which shows in various reviews. With the type of classical music i listen to, it's a problem.

I'm using a NAD stereo integrated amp, and a Benchmark DAC-1. These are well-regarded components, but probably the electronics is better than the speakers. I get slightly cleaner results from headphones.

As to what speakers to buy, there are a zillion of them. They all sound slightly different. But I'm not convinced that in the long run there's going to be a lot of difference. If you browse the articles here you'll hear of lots of quite reasonable speakers. "multimedia speakers" just aren't up to the task of real listening. You'll need to spend a few hundred dollars on a pair of speakers, I think. Without going out there and listening to a bunch I can't make specific recommendations, but my suspicion is that any speakers that are well regarded by a variety of posters here will work.

My father has a nice pair of Energy C3's, which were a few hundred dollars, though he's actually got a 3.1 system. I think they sound about as good as my speakers, which tend to be in the $1000 per pair range. But I'm not specifically recommending Energy over anything else. Stereophile.com has lots of speaker reviews, and postings here can give you information.

If iTunes is your own source, you might consider professional monitor speakers, most of which are active, i.e. they don't need a separate amplifier or receiver. You can get those at places like Guitar Center. But look carefully at reviews first.

In any case, when you listen to speakers you're going to hear differences, but that won't tell you which is better. Bring along a CD that you know well. Ideally it should be a type of music that you've recently heard live. Otherwise you may want to try listening to it with more expensive speakers than you're looking for, which are reviewed well here and in Stereophile or other online source.