Hi
I also have more sibilance in my system that I would like. What helped you the most?
How do you like your new dac?
I want to get separate dac because I don’t like the one in Marantz nd8006 .
Btw I have Tritons 2+ and Line Magnetic 845ia

Hi Gregorio,

Here is what I did to reduce sibilance:

1) I am using extreme toe in for my Tritons so that the sound intersects 36" or so in front of my ears. Another option could be to have the speakers fire straight ahead with no toe in. GoldenEar recommends toeing in the speakers so that the sound intersects at the ears, but this did not work for me (too bright).

2) Positioned the back of my Triton speakers 19.5 inches from the front wall. And my chair so that the rear wall is 24 inches from my ears. My speakers are 10.5 feet apart and the same distance from me. When I increased the distance of the speakers to 10.5 feet apart, this helped a lot. Wider could be even better.

3) Added Auralex absorption panels and eight Vicoustic skyline diffusers. If you are going to use diffusers, you will need more absorption panels. Absorption should go at the reflection points on the sidewalls and behind you and behind the speakers. I also have curtains and carpeting.

4) Replaced the power cords for my DAC and amp with the Audience Forte 3. And all audio cables with OCC copper from Moon and Cardas. No silver.

5) Metrum Onyx DAC. This is a smooth RDR DAC.

6) Cut the treble -2 dB with my McIntosh MA252 integrated amp's tone control.

7) Used EQ frequency cuts in JRiver music player software: -.5 dB at 2,000, -.5 at 3,000, -1 at 4,000, -2 at 6,000, -2.5 at 8,000, and -2.5 at 12,000.

I had tried using treble tone control with my amp and EQ with JRiver when I had my previous Teac 503NT DAC, but the resulting sound was constricted like it was choking and so I had to give up that experiment. With my new Metrum Onyx DAC, I found that tone control with my amp and EQ with JRiver works well.

I like my new Metrum Onyx DAC a lot. It takes a long time to break in. After 100 hours or so, it was too bright and revealing. But to my relief, cutting the treble with my amp and in JRiver did not cause the resulting sound to be constricted with my Onyx DAC. With my Onyx DAC, the resulting sound after reducing the treble with my amp and JRiver is very good, with a nice balance of beautiful tone and clarity and almost zero excessive sibilance.

Another DAC you might consider is the new LIM version of Schiit's Yggdrasil. I have not heard it, but Schiit's new LIM, or "Less is More," is supposed to be less harsh than the earlier version, and it is getting a lot of positive reviews. It has a 6-8 week delay in shipping.

Apparently I got the last Onyx DAC available from HiFi Heaven, the U.S. distributor. But you could order one from Metrum, which requires PayPal. It is flown to the U.S. and delivered in three days, I was told. I don't know where you live, but apparently shipping from Metrum is fast. If you are thinking about purchasing a new DAC or any other audio component, I recommend verifying that the item is in stock and the estimated delivery date. There are crazy long shipping delays right now for many electronic items because of multiple reasons.

If you are looking to reduce sibilance without running up the costs involved, see items 1, 2, 6, and 7 above. Those changes are all free. Then you could purchase a few absorption panels. Add curtains if you have windows and a rug if you have hard floors. Lastly, a DAC. Everyone advises listening to a DAC before purchasing one, but that is not an option for many people. So, the next best option is to go online to read up about DACs. The websites Super Best Audio Friends, Audiogon and Audiophile Style have reviews and user comments about the Onyx and Less is More DACs.

Your amp should work well with the Tritons. I read somewhere that Sandy, the founder of GoldenEar, uses that same brand of amp.

Let us know what works for you as you try different things to get your Tritons to sing like you want.

Thank you for replying. My amp is fairly new and I just bought some new tubes and that might help too. Since it doesn’t have tone controls I might look for a dac where I’ll be able do that there ,something like RDE-ADI 2.I will also look at dacs that you recommend.

I wanted to clarify my comments about the Metrum Onyx DAC. It works very well with my Triton 3+ speakers. And it is too revealing and bright with only a tiny number of songs in my 9,500 song library. More than 99% of the songs sound great, and not in any way too bright or revealing, with this DAC. It is much better than the Teac DAC I had been using, with better clarity while still sounding smooth with pleasing tone. I am listening to After in Paris right now, and the vocals clarity is vastly superior. I am only using JRiver's EQ with some poorly recorded or poorly mastered singer-songwriter songs. EQ is not needed with jazz, blues, ambient, classic rock, classical, etc.

The RDE DAC you mentioned has an equalizer built in. Another option could be one of the two reasonably priced equalizers that Schiit sells. Steve Guttenberg, the Audiophiliac, recommends the Schiit equalizers. With one of the Schiit equalizers in your chain, you would be free to get whatever DAC you want.

Anyway, good luck with your DAC choice. You already have great speakers and a great amplifier.

I am happy to report that I have zero unnatural/excessive sibilance now with my system of Triton 3+ speakers, McIntosh MA252 amplifier, and Metrum Onyx DAC.

It took about 280 hours of break in time with the DAC for the sibilance to go bye-bye. The sibilance disappeared so completely that I am now able to stop using EQ in JRiver.

I also changed the toe in of my speakers to have them fire straight ahead. Also helping is that I have the speakers 11 and a half feet apart. At 150 hours with the DAC and no toe in, though, some of the sibilance was still there. Now, at 280 hours, it is gone.

I had heard that R2R DACs take a long time to break in and sound their best. The advice is spot on.

The Metrum Onyx DAC is a good match with the GoldenEar Tritons.