Dazzdx, you are correct as to how it should sound. But as I'm sure you know there are a handful of bottlenecks present in every last system ie dirty AC from the street, uncontrolled vibrations, tweeters that flatten out or break up under stress, having enough juice for the amps, ics and scs loaded with time time-smear, etc., etc.. And that does not even include inferior components, component synergy, room acoustics, etc..
So if some potential detail rears its ugly head out of sequence or too prematurely in the evolutionary process, then the first thing we want to do is call it evil and squash it rather than nurture it.
Audioengr, I have to disagree with your statement that all stock gear have some sibilance and harshness.
On the other hand, if one were to say all electronic components are susceptible to and affected by dirty AC and uncontrolled resonance energy and just a couple of the effects include negative sibilance and harshness then I think that would be much more accurate.
I don't think this is splitting hairs. Rather, I think it has everything to do with determining the root cause and if we don't know what the root cause is then the chances are pretty good that we'll never properly address it and move forward.
-IMO
