[dlow]

Now that Zanth has confirmed that I'm not going crazy

I've noticed in several of my CDs, a faint hight pitched whine whenever the vocals come on. The sound is like the high pitched CRT whine you hear from monitors and televisions.

So far, I've noticed it only on CDs that have choral music such as the Mediaeval Baebes, Zanth's HDCD Sampler Disc and The Lord of the Rings Soundtrack.

The whine usually starts just before the choir starts and goes away when they stop singing for long stretches. But as soon as the vocals return, so does the annoying whine.

I was wondering if anybody has any idea what might be causing this annoying sound. Anybody know what I'm talking about?

BTW... it doesn't seem to have anything to do with bad equipment as Zanth and I both heard it through his Shanling CDP

with our Etys. I've also heard it though my Paradigm Studio 40s, so it isn't restricted to headphones either.

 

[Nezer]

Congratulations I think you're hearing the effect of digital audio.

Check out www.meier-audio.com under his analoguer description for the effect I think your hearing. If this in fact what it is an analoguer may help some but will not eliminate it completly. The only ways I can think of to elimate the problem is to go to SACD or DVD-A or use a super-high-end DAC (like Wadia) that upsamples and processes with a DSP to eliminate this awful effect.

I get this effect on Natalie Merchant, Ani Difranco and Sting. Sometimes it's so bad I have to listen to something else. The analoguer makes it presentable and helps me tune it out a bit easier.