Hi all!

I'm not very knowledgeable about things audio, so I hope that someone
can offer me an opinion. I'm using a Sony 5-disc DVD player
(DVP-NC600) as a CD player, and I've started to notice that on "hot"
(high-level) portions of songs that there can be a distortion-type
sound. I don't know what clipping really sounds like, but the sounds
(often with a louder vocal section in a song) remind me of a singer
singing too loudly into a mic and overloading it. It isn't a problem
on DVDs, and I am wondering if this is a recent problem (components
have been in storage for 3 months).

Anyways: I have been messing around a bit trying to figure out what
the problem is. The problem lessens, but doesn't go away entirely, if
I use the "audio attenuation" feature of the DVD player. I don't like
to use it, because I presume it changes the quality of the sound.

Also, this particular DVD player has two sets of analog audio outputs
(one L/R RCA pair and a second L/R RCA pair). I have one set running
to my amp (NAD C350) and one set running to the TV. If I disconnect
the pair running to the TV and just retain the connection to the amp,
things clear up almost completely. Strangely, the harshness problem
also seems to go away if I listen to the sound from the DVD player
through the TV inputs, out from the TV outputs to the amp (problem is
with direct connection from player to amp).

Question: is this indicative of a problem with the DVD player, or is
this behaviour what one should expect? If so, what's the explanation
behind why this is happening? Is the use of both connections splitting
the available output signal from the DVD player and therefore causing
problems?

Thanks for any insights you all might have!