Hi there folks,
I am wondering if anyone with a Supernait 3 has ever experienced odd “distortion” or noisy hash deep in the mix of some busier recordings?
My current system is the SN3/HCDR, NDX2/XPSDR all on a Naim Fraim with NAC A5 cables and stock SNAIC. I have high efficiency horn speakers that are 100dB/sensitive.
On many tracks I am listening to, I am hearing an odd noisy distortion or hash deep in the mix of what sounds like the decay of reverb or electric guitar effects. It always seems to be harmonic distortion around that upper mid-range - lightly distorted electric guitars, some piano harmonics, reverb decay on vocals, etc.
For an example, REM’s extremely well-produced track “Everybody Hurts,” from Automatic for the People. In the pre-chorus of the song there is distorted electric guitar chords and then droning guitar wash/decay under the string arrangements. I have known this song very well for nearly 30 years on many different systems.
On the SN3, this distorted guitar sounds noisy and has dirty hash deeper in the mix that interferes with the smoothness of the guitar (it should sound like a clean wash and not a rattly noise).
That’s just one example of some of the kinds of things I hear in mixes these days. Other mixes like cleaner simpler mixes (trios, guitar/piano/vocals etc) it is clean and clear and has no problems at all.
I am wondering if anyone has experienced sound issues like this with the Supernait 3 and highly sensitive speakers. I did not experience this at all with the Uniti Nova and it is seriously impeding my listening enjoyment on almost a daily basis.
A few culprits I have wondered about - could it be cable interference or EMI/RFI, could it be a poor match between the SN3 and my speakers, or could it be my hearing has taken a rapid deterioration to cause these distortions. Finally it could just be the SN3 is better suited toward acoustic instruments and cleaner mixes and the Nova is better suited toward louder rock music at any level of production quality.
My cable management is “okay.” I have the cables hanging pretty freely behind the Fraim and I try to separate cables as best as I can although I do have ethernet and interconnects for dual subwoofers coming from the main Fraim system as well.
Any help is appreciated!