Sibilance - on the recording or from my stereo?

Audio Gear Talk
1

Hi,
the better my stereo gets (means: the more expensive :slight_smile: )
the more sibilance is disturbing the SQ. (:slight_smile:

But, before I check my gear, how can I determine whether these hissses and ssssss
is already on the recording or whether my stereo creates these sibilances ?

Hearing with headphones is also quite harsh sometimes, but headphones have a very different sound anyway…

2 Examples of female voices were sibilance is noticable and disturbing:
Diane Krall : Let’s face the music and dance (especially last 2 Minutes of the track)
Melody Gardot: If you Love me let me know

Thanks for your comments !

Franz

2

I don’t think it’s sibilance (not in the way we mean, anyway). Both tracks simply sound like the vocals are closely mic’ed. Certainly doesn’t sound harsh to me, although on the Krall track the ‘s’s are somewhat pronounced.

Michael

3

Franz, what have you changed? Perhaps a better resolving streamer/DAC is showing up a weakness with your speakers?

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4

Indeed, a few weeks ago I replaced my old DAC (ProJect Pre S2) by a new Chord Qutest…

5

Congratulations! The qutest is an excellent dac, and it has a few built in filters… I’ve read they are subtle, but perhaps one will dampen your sibilance.

6

Might help if you gave details of your system. Poor quality USB connections (for example) can cause harshness, as can driver issues.

8

ok, this is my setup:
Fritzbox → Ethernet (CAT7) → Auralic Mini → Audioquest USB → Chord Qutest →
Audreal XA3200 MKII (Tube Preamp) → 2 x Tsakiridis Achilles (Tube Mono Power Amp, 300B)
into Cabasse Murano…

9

In general I must say I could have posted the same as the OP:-)

The more revealing systems reveal subtle lip movements and definitely accentuate the ending “ssss”s.

A cappella vocals are very much prone to this. An example:

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10

And I thougt I‘d love the Wellermen :rofl: :rofl:
Thanks @DrPo, great music, excellent recording!
I really love it….
And it also sounds great on my stereo,
But, no issues with sibilance or heights of the vocals on my stereo.

11

Franz, ironically, lately I was putting the same question to myself. There are records I started to notice with my setup where sibilance is actually disturbing.

Basically, when I perceive any type of unexpected artifacts, like sibilance or lack of bass, or muddy vocals. I tend to go back to “test” recordings to make sure my system is actually up to the task, and nothing has actually changed. My favorite is “AYA Authentic Audio Check SACD Vol. 1”

In most of the cases I came to the conclusion - these are records or digital copies, rather, that are made this way. Try using the different versions of the same album to see if there’s a difference. Good test can be when you find the same album in different quality, say 16/44 and 24/96 or higher. Some times on Qobuz you can find this type of versioning for example.

The second finding I had on my system was related to DSP. When I was upscaling PCM source, say CD 16/44 - I was in love with maximum upscaling to 192, but when I tried the “power of 2”, i.e. upscaling to 176 the hissing effect was quite noticeable !

And I agree with mikeb, filters can actually make this subtle difference.

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