How to proceed?

I am not an expert here at all...

Once said i experienced sibilance  when i had bad synergy between gear pieces speakers and dac or amplifier  or bad dac( which is not the case here i think) and room acoustic can only solve it in part ....Room acoustic alone  dont solve synergy problem ... A bit of EQ can help a lot ...

@hilde45

I don’t know it’s the DAC for certain. What I do know is that when the Aqua DAC is in the signal chain, there’s fatigue and exaggerated sibilance. When I run my Jay’s transport direct into the Hegel’s DAC, fatigue goes away and while there is still some sibilance, it is not nearly so exaggerated. BUT, the sound is quite lean unless cranked. I may try a Border Patrol, which is affordable and could be returned if it didn't work out.

On the whole, this system is way more resolving than its predecessor, so it’s possible the sibilance is coming from somewhere else and was simply not evident up to this point. It could be the room. If this is the case, probably the only course is to revert to a less-resolving system.

Others have suggested the Hegel may be the culprit. I hate to give it up because I love how it brings my speakers to life. At 67, I don’t want to deal with an even heavier Coda or Pass. I had a tubey-sounding Wells Majestic that was nice but lacked control in the bass, which is why I began searching for an alternative and ended up with the Hegel. As I haven’t been active in the local audiophile community, those might be able to loan me gear "don’t know me from Adam". Paying the price for my introversion!

Thanks for your interest.

@mahgister

A Schiit Lokius didn’t help but perhaps a unit with more bands????

I dont understand why the Lokius will not work in improving it ... For me then it is a problem about the speakers/room relation ...Of a bad synergy between a good dac and the rest of the gear interaction ...

I dont think that buying more costlier EQ will work better than this basic good one for sibilance...

In general looking for more resolution is not always the best way, sibilance may invite itself by exagerated high frequencies band coming from bad synergy or from a bad choice in some design ...I myself always asked for more musicality and more clear spatial localization acoustic qualities first, never for more resolving qualities first, because i hate fatiguing sounds ...My two systems dont lack details at all but they are never in my face ...They are there waiting for my attention ...

Borrow another dac...

@mahgister

A Schiit Lokius didn’t help but perhaps a unit with more bands????

@mahgister

I wasn’t actually looking for more resolution. I’m much more a music lover who prizes emotional engagement. I was looking to correct the poorly-controlled bass I was getting in my previous system, which I found distracting and increasingly dissatisfying. Hegel amps are known for their high damping factor and the H390 has not only brought much better bass control but the speakers have come to come to life in a way that made me question whether I’d ever heard what they could do, before bringing in the Hegel.

It’s possible the next acquisition might’ve been a "bridge too far" -- replacing the simaudio transport with the Jay’s. However, when I tried swapping it out for my old Jolida CDP as a transport the sibilance was actually worse. So, I dunno what to think... ;o/

@mahgister

I wasn’t actually looking for more resolution. I’m much more a music lover who prizes emotional engagement.

I already know that already...😊

I only say that the dac may not be the problem in itself but the synergy on some frequencies response never mind if it is very good on some other aspects  between it and the rest of gear ...Anyway it was my case in the past...