Sibilance

[alcy]

We can't do much about how an artist records, masters and publishes and what steps are taken to not exaggerate sibilant sounds, mostly in vocals, but from our side, in an audio system, which component is the most likely to exaggerate sibilance ? Source, amp or cables ? If you start picking/observing all sibilant sounds, they take the form from being simple minor annoyances to nanosecond screeches and shrills ! Pretty irritating.

 

[sound1]

Well, here is my story. I used to drive my speakers from AVR initially about for a year. I am very sensitive to harsh treble & sibilance. I used to cringe when I heard some of my favorite recordings ruined by sibilance. Eventually I completely stopped listening to some of them. Later I read somewhere that AVRs sometimes clip slightly introducing some harmonics which are heard as sibilance and harsh treble. So, I got a 2 ch power amp using my AVR's as DAC + preamp. There were some improvements, but not too much.

Just a month back I thought of replacing my 200 rupee RCA cable with a nice pair of nice interconnects not expecting much change in SQ. I was very doubtful that cables can sound good/bad, but still wanted give a try. So I gifted myself a pair of nice interconnects (Audio Art IC3 -- thank you Sridhar!) on my birthday. Reason: any other day I couldn't convince my wife to spend 4k on a pair of wires that too 1/2 m in length. (Okay, she agreed after I lied to her saying it was solid silver )

At first it just blew me away! Then again, and again, and again... Frankly I couldn't believe my ears! I mean it was like listening to a very high end system after a good dose of grass Results were THAT good -- bass, mid, treble -- they were just flowing. Immediate difference I noticed was that sibilance was totally gone -- without any loss in treble detail and extension. I never thought I would write about ICs making a difference in sound, but here I am.

Now that I am out of that initial WOW period, I am beginning to think it could be that my power amp's muscle/finesse was not completely used with a cheap interconnect. May be, may be not but the combo definitely did.

 

[sonosphere]

... which component is the most likely to exaggerate sibilance ? Source, amp or cables ? ...

Hi Alcy,
Generally speaking no component in a chain would be designed such that it sounds sibilant. It is the pairing of components that creates this exaggeration of certain frequency-range in treble end.

One good property of your gear can actually accentuate sibilance. If any /all components in your chain are good at details in the treble end, then the chances are high that with a entry-level cable /interconnects, you end up with prominent sibilance. I read somewhere that one system was so detailed that sound of singer's lips joining and parting during the song could be heard (one may like it as a novelty initially... but the same details become distracting later).

Regds,
Sonosphere

 

[gobble]

At first it just blew me away! Then again, and again, and again... Frankly I couldn't believe my ears! I mean it was like listening to a very high end system after a good dose of grass .

Grass is better than silver coated copper or plain stranded OFC copper. This has been known for centuries. The quality of "connector" also matters. A Chillum beats a paper roll any day. Then the Malna variety is best for SQ -it is like single crystal OFC vs non-OFC

A component most likely to cause sibilance is a poorly designed speaker enclosure.

HTH
--G0bble

 

[sound1]

Grass is better than silver coated copper or plain stranded OFC copper. This has been known for centuries. The quality of "connector" also matters. A Chillum beats a paper roll any day. Then the Malna variety is best for SQ -it is like single crystal OFC vs non-OFC

I've mostly been a DIY man (end-to-end) but I probably need to expand my boundaries Sorry for OT

 

[gobble]

I've mostly been a DIY man (end-to-end) but I probably need to expand my boundaries Sorry for OT

Grass will "expand" your mental horizons no doubt ... hyeah:

--G0bble

 

[sound1]

Grass will "expand" your mental horizons no doubt ... hyeah:

--G0bble

Can't agree more

 

[Prasad Karpe]

I think that the main culprit in occurrence of sibilance is the recording itself e.g. the bollywood music. The good music directors like AR Rehman always pay attention to this but since the music companies deliberately want to sound the recording in a very bright manner he too doesnt have much choice. The other factor to blame is obviously is the IC. Can anybody shed light over the relation between sibilance & thickness of the IC?

 

[Dude111]

Recently I had to change the cable I am using between my VCR and AMP and ever since,I have had crappy audio coming from ANYTHING that goes over it! (I have my VCR and direcTV going over it)

Its like the cable IS NOT PROPERLY OPTIMISED for speech!! -- The peoples voices are horrible.... Not as much bass and sibilance..... I DIDNT HAVE THAT UNTIL I HAD TO CHANGE THE WIRE!!!! (My shell went bad)

I tried a different amp,speakers and all the same results so It has to be the cable!!! (Then I read how cables CAN make a huge difference)

I was worried about having to change the cable as I thought I might lose my good sound!! (Turns out my worries were justified)

Havent been able to find one as good yet

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Even telephone cables are optimised for speech.

(oh, well... come to think of it, the whole telephone system is)

You may find this Interactive Frequency Chart interesting. By moving the mouse around you can get different information in the side panels, eg "too much 6-8K is sibilant."