Wow, thanks guys!
Well, I guess it's good to hear that my setup may be OK as is, and throwing money at the problem is not necessarily the answer. Having read through replies and re-listening thru a cross section of my collection, it does seem like the main culprit is the sound quality of a few files. Not sure if its the original recording, or the file encoding, or what: but of the 5-10% of tracks that sound a bit harsh, if anything it's the ones with the HIGHER bitrates.
But, just in case there is anyone with hardware-purchasing-related solutions to the problem (eg., 'warmer' sounding rigs?), to answer a couple questions: @dakkon sure, new or pre-owned is fine, doesn't matter, and @cb919 I'm looking at 2 channel only.
