CD Playback Fix
The harshest part of CD audio is above 11025 Hz.
Which is why the other set of speakers here, the Kenwood "woody" bookshelf speakers, are equalised to Diffuse Field - with little output above 12 KHz. CDs do sound warmer and softer through those speakers (though there is less detail than with the Roland speakers).
As the desk setup is, well, the desk setup, speakers emit [harsh] high frequencies "right in the face".
So here's a little fix...
Foobar2000 with George Yohng's VST Wrapper. The VST plugins are Togu Audio Line MFilter and RNDigital Inspector, chained through Acon Effectchainer. All plugins are free software.
MFilter's set to cut at roughly 12 KHz, with a slight resonance. The Kenwood speakers also do some "warmish" EQ in the low frequencies, and have a "kick" bass hump below 100 Hz, but that's a matter of taste. That can be added with any free EQ plugin listed at KVR Audio.
All of the filtering is over 96-KHz-resampled CD audio, resampling done by Secret Rabbit Code.
Which is why the other set of speakers here, the Kenwood "woody" bookshelf speakers, are equalised to Diffuse Field - with little output above 12 KHz. CDs do sound warmer and softer through those speakers (though there is less detail than with the Roland speakers).
As the desk setup is, well, the desk setup, speakers emit [harsh] high frequencies "right in the face".
So here's a little fix...
Foobar2000 with George Yohng's VST Wrapper. The VST plugins are Togu Audio Line MFilter and RNDigital Inspector, chained through Acon Effectchainer. All plugins are free software.
MFilter's set to cut at roughly 12 KHz, with a slight resonance. The Kenwood speakers also do some "warmish" EQ in the low frequencies, and have a "kick" bass hump below 100 Hz, but that's a matter of taste. That can be added with any free EQ plugin listed at KVR Audio.
All of the filtering is over 96-KHz-resampled CD audio, resampling done by Secret Rabbit Code.