ribbons vs domes and sibilance

Better= no sss‘s.

I'd prioritize the causes of sibilance by first, electronics, then room acoustics, cabling and lastly the speaker.  Back in the day I found that mid priced phono cartridges had that hifi clarity and crispness but at the expense of increased sibilance.  I wanted to blame my speakers.  Then I bought a high end phono cartridge and one of the differences I found was that the highs were smoother and sibilance was gone.  I still had that crisp, clean clarity but no sibilance.  

Fast forward some decades and I have found the same truth with digital.  Changing out cables or dampening the room can reduce sibilance but at the sacrifice of clarity.  I found a better DAC was the best solution to eliminating sibilance.  Still have that clarity and crispness but the fatiguing "SSSS" is gone.  Didn't have anything to do with the speakers.  Sure, a few recordings are out there with a hot mic but even those are much less irritating than before.

@stuartk Since you are the OP sure, I can wander a little off topic to discuss DACs a bit.  Keep in mind I am an engineer, not a professional reviewer.  So I will do my best to communicate what I hear and experience.  It was 3.5 years ago that I bought the Ayon Stealth Xs DAC and Ayon CD-TII Transport.  The sound of this pair blew me away.  I heard clarity and detail in my CDs like I had never heard my CDs before.  But with that clarity came the occasional sibilance and the highs could be a little hot at times or edgy.  That lead me to try different cables and room treatments.  It helped.  I also bought a very good power conditioner and eventually a better power cord which helped smooth out the highs quite a bit.  I would still encounter a few songs with some irritating sibilance.  Overall, I was very happy with the sound of the Stealth Xs and with my NUC based music server.  

Then as we all seem to do- we start snooping around at gear and working ourselves into buying something, Back in December I bought the Aeries Cerat Hele'ne DAC with a 30 day trial.  I followed that up with the purchase of the Antipodes K50 music server in January.  Big mistake financially speaking (I also had to buy my wife something)  but wow!  This DAC is like the difference between a mid priced phono cartridge and a high end phono cartridge like I was talking about.  The highs are creamy smooth with no fatigue or indication of sibilance on almost all recordings.  I have come across a couple of female vocalist recordings with some sibilance but even those are still very pleasant and easy to listen to.  I'll also mention that the rhythm and pace of this DAC (along with my Antipodes K50 music server) is outstanding and the best I have heard in digital matching my vinyl.  And I worked a long time to get the right rhythm and pace with my vinyl gear.

I bought my new speakers 1.5 years after buying the Ayon gear.  The highs might have changed some but not a lot as I recall.  My new speakers brought more powerful and clear bass, more clarity overall and a much improved soundstage.

My turntable sits somewhat neglected as I explore a world of music on Qobuz.  I played some vinyl a few weeks ago and was surprised at how close the digital and analog sides sound now.  Digital used to be a very different sound.  

Pick any two:

1) Clarity

2) No sibilance

3) Low cost

Sibilance is not about the tweeters.  Maybe 30-40 years ago some speakers had hot tweeters.  Probably to make up for cheap lamp cord for wiring.  The hifi sound is about clarity.  Clarity in the highs and clarity in the bass.  With that comes the sss‘s and that drives me up the wall too.  With vinyl we have a couple of knobs to turn.  We can adjust the VTA to tone down the sibilance on vinyl, for example or play with phono preamp impedance when using MC cartridges.  Digital is harder.  Room treatments and speaker placement can help quite a bit.  Beyond that, it is the cable carousel or finding a better DAC or Amp.  Sibilance can be tamed but it comes with a cost.     

Ok.  Several years back in my last home I had my stereo set up in a large great room with a carpeted floor.  I changed the floor to Hickory hardwood and was surprised how much better my stereo sounded.  I remember having some sibilance on the digital side back then and adding a big rug.  

So just over 3 years ago I retired and began updating my stereo.  My gear ranged from 16-30 years old- and all was new or nearly new when I bought it.  I slowly, over a  2 year period changed everything- cables twice or more.  My current listening room here had carpeting but I put in hardwood flooring in late 2021.  Yeah, during Covid so I ended up putting the floor down myself.   My newly revamped system 3 years ago had clarity in spades.  The vinyl side was good but on the digital side highs could get fatiguing and even harsh on some recordings.  Sibilance was an occasional occurrence but enough to irritate me.

One of the things I noticed is that as I improved my system I found I could listen to digital louder and louder.  Today, the digital side is just as smooth and good as the vinyl side.  The sounds of each source are converging.  Never expected that.

First, I replaced MIT Cables with Purist middle line of cables.  Improved clarity and more detail.  Good change.  Bought new DAC and CD Transport in late 2020.  Great step up in sound.  More detail and clarity in CDs that I had ever heard.  Downside was a little bit fatiguing at higher volume.  Overall, very happy at this point.  

Finally got the hardwood floor installed.  Not as big an improvement as in my last house but it was still better than carpeting.  Bass got clearer and more solid.  Highs became a little more fatiguing.  Started experimenting with rugs and added GIK room treatments.  

Worked on isolation of all components including speakers.  Detail increased but so did sibilance.  Added more acoustic absorbers on the walls.  Helped a little.  Bought the AQ Niagara 5000.  Big improvement in the highs.  

I shopped for speakers starting in mid 2020.  I had my Thiel CS6 speakers from 2005 to 2022.  I wanted a change.  I wanted Wilsons.  Finally got the Wilsons in summer of 2022.  Now I can hear everything that is wrong with my system.  The speakers sounded great.  Imaging, bass, rhythm and pace were excellent.  Vinyl still beat out digital streaming and CDs- especially for rhythm and pace.  But the Wilsons made the shortcomings in the upstream source and cables more evident.

Added the LHY SW-8 network switch.  Big improvement in the sound of streaming.  Ag plated copper wire ethernet cables helped the highs with streaming.  

Started upgrading cables to the higher end line of Purist.  Started with the speaker cables and amp power cords.  Upgraded the DAC power cord- big improvement to the highs.  Finally upgraded all the IC's and power cords on the preamps.  Digital never sounded so good but I would still give vinyl the edge.

Then in December I purchased the Aeries Cerat Helene DAC.  Agonized a long time over that and considered other high end DACs as well.  In the end, I decided on the AC Helene with a trial period.  I went from the Ayon Kronos to the Helene.  The highs are so smooth.  No trace of sibilance.  Even more clarity and detail but I can crank it up as much as I want.  At this point I could hear a difference between my CD Transport and my NUC based streamer- especially rhythm and pace.  So I bought the Antipodes K50.  The rhythm and pace of streaming is just like vinyl now.  The music just flows.  

Short summary:  The room interactions play a large part (35%) in contributing to sibilance.  Picture a rock band in your school gym during prom.  Wool rugs, soft furniture and if you can- absorbers and diffusers help quite a bit too.  They also impact imaging.  

Electronics contribute 45% as well to controlling sibilance.  That clarity and detail we seek comes at a cost.  The better gear can get that detail and that clarity without emphasis on sibilance.  I have always had tube preamps (since 1988 actually) and that is no guarantee against sibilance.  I think my Pass amps are on the warmer side but they will not filter fatiguing highs.  The source is where sibilance starts.  Tone down the detail and clarity a bit and the source can sound good.  It's once you have heard a high level of detail and clarity that it is hard to go back.

Cables contribute roughly 20% as well.  Cables won't eliminate sibilance but they are the final touch to a rich, clear detailed sound with no noise.  Cables have a big impact on noise.  That noise contributes to harsh highs- it's not all about a black background but you get that too.  You get what you pay for with cables.  Sorry to say.  Buying cables is no fun but once I got some of Purist's higher end cables I couldn't stop.  

To clarify- if you try to tone down sibilance with cables, I think your system will sound dull and you will be dissatisfied.  And yes, some speakers do have smoother highs than others, I believe.  Something about a speaker that draws us to it.  Wilson does that for me.  So did the Thiels.

The other thing, perhaps the moral of my story is that buying expensive speakers leads to expensive everything else. Well, I get more use out of my stereo now than ever.

Well, the Niagara had a pretty good effect on the highs. I remember that. I lump it into electronics because I‘m struggling to remember that level of detail. One thing that was disappointing really- I believed that I didn‘t need better power cords for the DAC, Streamer, and preamps since I had the Niagara. That turned out not to be the case. Better power cords still lowered the noise floor on these front end components.

Some people report little to no change with power conditioners. I had a good experience. I brought the Niagara home from Hifi Buys in Atlanta. I could have returned it easily enough if I hadn‘t heard a significant improvement.  I also have two dedicated circuits.  The amps are on one circuit with no power conditioning but with really good power cords.

One more comment and then I‘ll stop.  Promise.

This is about my room.  I just thought of this.  True story:  The Heating and Air guy was here the other day to service my heat pump.  He saw my listening room and took an interest in the room treatments.  We were standing in the “Zone“, ie right in front of my listening position.  I said to him, “Listen to my voice.  Note how clear and crisp my voice sounds.  This is not like a typical room that has some echo that would smear the sound of my voice.“. Then I clapped my hands a couple of times and I told him to remember how that sounds.  So when we were outside, I clapped my hands again so he could hear how similar it sounded to the clap in my listening room.