Can sibilance be eliminated?

Most of the time, natural sibilance is not really a problem and I understand that it is part of the way we make speech. But I think the problem is that most digital playback would add a layer of electronics which results in a sound that is shapeless, formless, noise-like, to the "s" or "shhh" sound especially with female voice since I guess it has a more high-frequency contents(the area where most digital playback has problem) than male voice.

Is anybody here claiming to have actually removed essentially all negative sibilance (except for that which is in the recording itself) from their playback system?

Or are we simply theorizing here?

-IMO

Stehno,

I think you can remove virtually all sibilance/distortion from digital. If you want to get technical and say absolutely 100% is not possible even with the best parts and designs, I could acknowledge that point. No playback system I've heard is the same as the real thing yet.

However, I feel confident saying that more removal is possible than most people think. Certainly, you can get it to the point of where it is reasonably negligible by today's standards and not causing fatigue or causing you to avoid certain hot recordings. See my recent review to see how I got rid of it.

One possible litmus test CD you can try is Charles Lloyd Canto. The first track is about 16 minutes long. Even if that type of music isn't your cup-of-tea, you should be able to listen for 16 minutes. If you're CDP and the rest of your system is up to par, you should be wanting to listen until completion. You may even be nodding your head or tapping your feat at the end. If something is wrong, it will quickly grow weary, fatiguing after no more than probably 9 minutes.

BTW, this track is also good for picking up low-level detail and testing system transparency. You will likely hear the performer breathe as he plays early-on. However, the difference is whether you occasionally hear the breath or you hear virtually every breath - deep and shallow. It's quite an excellent recording IMO.

Stehno - I have no audible sibilance in my CD playback system. I also recently modded a Shanling T200 and the sibilance is gone...

I replaced all of the power supply caps in my CDP player (digital side) used as a transport with Black Gates, installed Harrris Freds and replaced the caps just in front of the BNC with Black Gates and all of the system induced sibilance is gone. S's sound perfectly "normal" now with absolutely no emphasis. Mind you...it took several hundred hours for the BG's to break in.