What is the cause of my sibilance problem?

I appreciate all of your responses and apologize for not posting earlier - my ISP was down for two days.

When I originally auditioned the Super Silver interconnects I liked everything I heard except for the top-end. At the time I owned a Roksan Caspian CD Player. Adding vibration control to the system seemed to smooth things out to acceptable levels. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking.

What have I auditioned in the way of interconnects in addition to the Super Sivlers? I tried Wireworld Equinox III+, Harmonic Tech Truthlink, and AudioQuest Viper. Of those the Wireworld was the best. But all of them had the same sibilance problem. I only audtioned a single pair of each. Perhaps the suggestion to audition multiple pairs of each is a good one.

I forget to list my PS Audio P300 power plant and Quiet Lines in the list of equipment. The only components without conditioning are my power amp and subwoofer.

I usually listen with the cable TV unplugged. Maybe this isn't enough. I'll look into it. However, I live in an apartment it may not be feasible to disconnect anything.

All components except the power amp are sitting on brass cones. My digital front-end ( DAC and transport ) are also on shelves supported by cork/rubber feet. In addition, brass weights sit atop everything except the power amp. All of these vibration control devices are form Mapleshade.

At first, I thought my power amp needed servicing. I sent it B&K in New York and a few weeks later put it back in my system. After 200 hrs of burn-in the problem hadn't been solved. A call to B&K revealed that they hadn't found anything wrong. As a side-note, B&K technical support was outstanding. They only charged shipping and replace the top cover with one with better ventilation.

I plan to try the new Antique Sound Labs AV-8 tube monoblocks. They may not be the best, but it fits my budget right now. I want to hear the tube sound everyone talks about and see if it might get me a step closer to eliminating this problem.

Again, I appreciate everyones comments and plan to try them.

Onhwy61 - it is certainly possible that it is the source material. I don't have that many CDs with female vocals, but the problem occurs on all of the them.

Sol322 - The cones I use on the transport are the Mapleshade Triplepoints and on the DAC and preamp I use Mapleshade Surefoot cones. The Triplepoints have three small points instead of a flat surface where the components comes in contact with it. For each component the cones are arrayed in a triangular pattern with the "points" "down" (one cone along the rear and two along the front). It certainly is easy enough to try different configurations and I think I'll experiment tonight (provided I get home early enough). Incidently, the problem occurs with or without the cones installed.

Detlof - While I'm not ruling out the front-end I had a Roksan Caspian CD Player that only started exhibiting the problem after several changes to my system. There-in lies the problem. I don't know if it was something I did or if the problem was always there just hidden.

Nightdoggy - I must admit to some confusion. While I think I understand the gist of your post you lost me in the details. My system does in deed have alot of wires. But I don't think there is any possibility of simplifying without removing components. Perhaps one day I'll have the room and budget for separate HT and two-channel.

There is a possibility that the culprit is the preamp. It is the one component that I haven't experimented with. And given that the problem is experienced both with headphones and loudspeakers it seems to me that eliminates the power amp (though certainly has other failings). Another interesting thing is that the sibilance is present at all volume levels - well, I haven't actually tried all since I live in an apartment and don't want to upset the neighbors. And, the sibilance is greatly reduced to non-existent with movie playback - maybe a good experiment would be to play a movie in direct stereo mode and see if the sibilance is worse or better than Dolby Digital mode.

Sorry about the silence. I haven't had much opportunity of late to try some of the suggestions posted. My deadline at work is the end of week - hopefully I can take off this weekend.

One thing I did try was to change the "mode" from direct stereo to several others. Interestingly, the problem was significantly less in surround. I am beginning to wonder if the problem is my loudpseakers. When voice is routed to the center channel the sibilance goes away - or seems to.

Update:

I disconnected the Aiwa from the MSB Link III and connected my Sony DVD player to it. After trying both coax and optical connections the problem wasn't solved. I am, however, better able to characterize it. The sibilance is most noticeable in words that begin or end with "s" as opposed to having an "s" in the middle.

I also opened up the MSB Link III to ensure that the upsampling board hadn't been knocked loose. It wasn't. But I did discover something that was a little disappointing. The upsampling board plugs into two rows of pins in the middle of the "main" board. There is a tall capacitor under one corner of the board that prevents the sockets from sitting flush i.e. it isn't completely seated.

Sol322 thanks for the encouragement. I have indeed tried different interconnects and powercords. I spoke with Steven at The Cable Company and I have one or two more things to try before going back to interconnects. Steve was, in fact, the person who recommended reseating the upsampling board and changing transports from the Aiwa to the Sony DVD Player.

Update:

Bob_Bundus mentioned the sibilance issue might be related to power. So, I contacted PS Audio and who should respond but Paul McGowan himself. He was honest and showed genuine interest in the problem. Unfortunately, he didn't think it was related to power. Considering how busy he must be I was very thankful that he took the time to try and help.

While visiting the HeadWize (headphone forum) site I found a device called the Corda Analoguer. It is essentially a high frequency filter. This device was advertised as reducing the digital glare associated with CDs. I gave it try. It certainly took off some of the edge but didn't cure the sibilance enough to warrant ending my search. If you are interested in my review of the device check out www.headwize.com.

I also decided to try the Sony 333ES SACD player. Well, I am happy to say that it reduced the sibilance to a nearly tolerable level. And, the music sounds more natural and relaxed than the Aiwa/MSB/Analoquer combo. My next step is to try the Analoguer with the SACD player. After that I will probably concentrate on the preamp.

It seems from my experiences to date that the problem is mismatched equipment. Cables and filters are only poor substitutes for proper equipment matching. It is now my belief that they are, or should be, icing on the cake. But you can't match equipment without cables. So, maybe there is something of the chicken-and-the-egg problem here :)