Can sibilance be eliminated?

Yes, sibilance can be eliminated.

Absolutely NO, it is NOT the price you pay with high detail digital playback. It's the price you pay with poor digital playback.

The problem is that most CDPs are still relatively poor performers, even many of the high-priced models. The Meitner blows away many other high priced digital pieces not just because it's great, but because many of the pieces it replaces or compared to are relatively poor.

Why do you think that we have more CDP modders than anything else? Most stock CDPs just won't cut it in a system where the rest of the equipment is at a high level. The result is a high sibilance, fatiguing and unsatisfying system where the user then makes the mistake of blaming the recording because some recordings can expose sibilance worse than others. Even worse, you find many people addressing the problem going down the cable or other equipment swapping road to nowhere.

Yes, you can diminish some sibilance through power conditioning and maybe a tad through vibration control, but, generally, nothing compares to the amount of sibilance generated through most digital playback. The funny thing is that most people (including myself) accepted it and/or don't realize it, until you hear truly great digital playback.

My advice is don't accept sibilance as a natural product of digital. The bad thing is that it's going to cost you and will be tough to find either through mods or stock equipment. However, in the long run, it will save you much more time, money and aggravation.

Stehno,

I think you can remove virtually all sibilance/distortion from digital. If you want to get technical and say absolutely 100% is not possible even with the best parts and designs, I could acknowledge that point. No playback system I've heard is the same as the real thing yet.

However, I feel confident saying that more removal is possible than most people think. Certainly, you can get it to the point of where it is reasonably negligible by today's standards and not causing fatigue or causing you to avoid certain hot recordings. See my recent review to see how I got rid of it.

One possible litmus test CD you can try is Charles Lloyd Canto. The first track is about 16 minutes long. Even if that type of music isn't your cup-of-tea, you should be able to listen for 16 minutes. If you're CDP and the rest of your system is up to par, you should be wanting to listen until completion. You may even be nodding your head or tapping your feat at the end. If something is wrong, it will quickly grow weary, fatiguing after no more than probably 9 minutes.

BTW, this track is also good for picking up low-level detail and testing system transparency. You will likely hear the performer breathe as he plays early-on. However, the difference is whether you occasionally hear the breath or you hear virtually every breath - deep and shallow. It's quite an excellent recording IMO.