Audioquest Sky XLR

I think all pieces of the audio puzzle need time to break in. That being said I'm a believer that if the cable or etc. is going to work within the system as a whole that it will be evident to the user in a few days or less. IMO with cables when new can sound bright or have some glare that will fade with time. But if its to the point of annoyance then its probably not going to transform with time. I do have silver ICs like your sky, (wild blue yonder), they have aged well but sounded fantastic initially. I do think that the preamp to amp ICs take longer to break in than source to preamp. If this is your scenario you could switch to a constant high level source signal (cdp) to speed up the process.

Mred, I would say the greatest change to expect with silver AQ cables will be the shift in tonal balance to slightly warmer than initially. What I mean is notes sound more distinct, a bass guitar sounds more believable, pianos come to life, and voices are organic.