I never experienced hardness and sibilance with Clear Reflection, too.
Maybe it is a burn-on issue, however consider to change DAC if you know yours sounds etched: good cables can only highlight problems.
When my system had problems I had hard and fatiguing sound even with the warmer Golden Reference; the fact you use Golden Cross makes me think ...
Now that perfect electric current powers my gear and a reference SACD player like my Accu DP700 is the source, no sibilance passes through neutral and transparent integrated amplifier and speakers, even with more "revealing" cables; rather, Clear sounded in my system even softer in the highs than Golden Reference (but also lacked in musicality, "body" and entertainment) !
Maybe it is a burn-on issue, however consider to change DAC if you know yours sounds etched: good cables can only highlight problems.
When my system had problems I had hard and fatiguing sound even with the warmer Golden Reference; the fact you use Golden Cross makes me think ...
Now that perfect electric current powers my gear and a reference SACD player like my Accu DP700 is the source, no sibilance passes through neutral and transparent integrated amplifier and speakers, even with more "revealing" cables; rather, Clear sounded in my system even softer in the highs than Golden Reference (but also lacked in musicality, "body" and entertainment) !