Try running them in for approx. 150 hours. You do not need to have the volume up, just run a signal through the IC and have the selector on your amp (preamp, whatever) to that position. My solid core silver analog IC's (different manufacturer) went from shrill to smooth in around 125 hours of use and sounded horrible out of the box. Hopefully you will be able to return them, if they do not work out in your setup after being broken in.
Bummer ELCO digital cable
Has anyone else purchased an ELCO DC-32 silver digital cable? I just got mine in the mail and its real harsh sounding! I know it should require a break-in period, but this thing sounds like crap and I cant see a break-in doing that much to help. Has anyone had a good experience with this cable? I've always heard that pure silver was the way to go?