Do some DACs "handle" sibilance better than others?

@stuartk 

If some DACS handle sibilance better than others it means that those particular DACs are surely enough altering the original sound.
 

If sibilance is there and a certain DAC reduces it, then that DAC would alter the original sound of all the music. I would conclude in this respect that it must be inaccurate, and in doing so is “colouring” the sound, so to speak.
I thought that term was only ever applied as a criticism of analogue turntables and tape players.

Maybe DACs are as coloured as analogue?

l know to my ears digital is more “analytical” than “coloured”, but which is perceived as best is a question of personal taste.

OP, the answer is yes. After years of painfully bright digital music from CDs on various delta/sigma DACs, I found NOS & R2R DACs, and everything changed. Some of them manage to be bright, but way fewer than any random assortment of d/s DACs would be.

Listening to one of them now (MHDT Labs Orchid with the best NOS buffer tube I could find). Not bright, not sibilant. In the system 8 feet away is another great sounding NOS DAC, the Metrum Onyx. They don't sound the same, but neither one is bright or sibilant except to a very minor extent on the worst, edgiest music cuts out there (cuts that would razor my ears off on pretty much any d/s DAC).

@hilde45 

Everything you say makes sense. 

I guess I was thinking," if there’s a chance a particular DAC is more prone to sibilance, I’d just as soon avoid it", but in thinking that way, I was forgetting that sibilance is not typically caused by the DAC. Thanks for the reminder.

@curiousjim 

Yeah; I’ve always tried to steer clear of bright sound but perhaps due to changing hearing (I have a test coming up) I’m not sure an r2r DAC is what I want. I plan to demo LTA Aero soon. It may sound bright or just right. Won’t know till I hear it. teh onboard DAC in my Hegel H390 is sounding pretty dull to me.  

@kennyc 

No doubt that is what Hans was referring to. 

@sls883 

It definitely can drive one nuts. 

@mylogic 

I can’t argue with your logic but I also don’t have a fundamental issue with sound being colored. it depends upon how and to what degree. 

@mcondon 

Yes; it’s getting harder to make broad generalizations. 

@desktopguy 

I plan to try a tube DAC soon. 

There is an analog section to every DAC. So certainly some of those sections could result in some high (relative to hearing) frequency exaggeration, etc. However I have often found sibilance to be the result of a component mismatch - i.e. input impedance or an overly attenuated input signal.