Arned:
I have three sets of ICs that I'm playing around with, all XLR: Purist Audio Design Aqueous Anniversary, Nordost Valkyrja, and Nordost Baldur. I find the Purist's are a little darker than either Nordost, with vocals not being quite as big, but instrumentation being somewhat fuller. The Baldur's are a little warmer than the PADs, and are closer to the Valkyrja's in mid and treble, but aren't as gripping or full on bass as the other cables. The Valkyrja's are a more forward cable than the the PADs, but still have excellent bass. I do notice a touch more sibilance on vocals and horns than with PADs, but that I don't think that is the fault of the Valkyrja's, but rather, because I took everything out of my rack and moved it around and reinstalled, so things either need to settle down (the DAC is known to take at least a day to settle back down if powered off) or the new cable arrangement is causing some microphonics, which I'm going to address this weekend. In my experience the higher end Nordost are very neutral so what I'm hearing could also just be new details of recordings that were obscured before, but I doubt it.
You may find that you don't need to go all the way to Valhalla to find what you're looking for. I'd start with the Baldur, maybe, since it's a steal used and easy to resell. If you're still not happy then try the Tyr or Valkyrja. My dad has Valhalla and in his system they are amazing, but I can't quite make the leap. If you can give an idea of what qualities you're looking to improve, then you will probably find that you'll get a ton of different recommendations. The only way to get a real sense of change is bite the bullet, buy a pair of cables, and then sell them if you don't like them.
I have three sets of ICs that I'm playing around with, all XLR: Purist Audio Design Aqueous Anniversary, Nordost Valkyrja, and Nordost Baldur. I find the Purist's are a little darker than either Nordost, with vocals not being quite as big, but instrumentation being somewhat fuller. The Baldur's are a little warmer than the PADs, and are closer to the Valkyrja's in mid and treble, but aren't as gripping or full on bass as the other cables. The Valkyrja's are a more forward cable than the the PADs, but still have excellent bass. I do notice a touch more sibilance on vocals and horns than with PADs, but that I don't think that is the fault of the Valkyrja's, but rather, because I took everything out of my rack and moved it around and reinstalled, so things either need to settle down (the DAC is known to take at least a day to settle back down if powered off) or the new cable arrangement is causing some microphonics, which I'm going to address this weekend. In my experience the higher end Nordost are very neutral so what I'm hearing could also just be new details of recordings that were obscured before, but I doubt it.
You may find that you don't need to go all the way to Valhalla to find what you're looking for. I'd start with the Baldur, maybe, since it's a steal used and easy to resell. If you're still not happy then try the Tyr or Valkyrja. My dad has Valhalla and in his system they are amazing, but I can't quite make the leap. If you can give an idea of what qualities you're looking to improve, then you will probably find that you'll get a ton of different recommendations. The only way to get a real sense of change is bite the bullet, buy a pair of cables, and then sell them if you don't like them.