[M.Sensation]

Now that I have a decent amp (old cosmic) and headphones (HD600) Im starting to notice a lot of flaws in my recordings. I'm pretty sure they're in the recordings, as they're not present on all my cd's. But that got me thinking, what would a bad source sound like? I've got the fabled SL CT570 as a PCDP and an older Technics 5 CD changer as a standalone source. Could these somewhat inferior sources be causing the flaws in the recordings (a couple of them are fairly new cd's which should be pretty good, right?) or are they just plain bad recordings?

Thx

 

[zzz]

Tough call. Problems are probably in the recordings, but your source/amp combination may be magnifying them.

I had that experience with my portable setup, but when I got SD-9200 and MG Head many CDs that I found unbearable with Total Airhead became listenable again. It could be the tubes, it could be a warmer, smoother source, I don't know... You experience is probably a bit different, because you definitely have a better amp than TA; however, yes, it could be that your source is not a perfect match for it.

And yeah, recently released CDs are not necessarily well recorded. To a large degree that depends on a producer, etc. Some bands had very-very well-recorded first couple of albums (Cranberries come to mind), but then their sound became just awful.