Sibilance # 2 or "Boy, do I feel like an idiot"

I decided to try what @ghdprentice had suggested-- I took the Jay's out and tried both the Sim, then a Jolida JD100 CDP (with its DAC bypassed) and... I heard the same sibilance as with the Jay's !  

I'm baffled-- I  have no explanation and I'm sorry for wasting everyone's time. 

Before I got the Jay's (using the Sim transport.with the Hegel) I wasn't aware of any sibilance,

My wife, a decidedly non-obsessive but wonderfully perceptive bystander, is dead certain there was no sibilance before I acquired the Hegel. At that point, I used the Sim transport with a Wells Majestic integrated. 

Should I now conclude the issue is with the Hegel ?

Not that there is anything malfunctioning, but that there is a synergy issue?