Interesting stuff here... Mbump, you must have a lot of patience. Moving Elrod cables around is a very time consuming task to say the least. I've done it a bit and I know how much they change when they get unplugged. The last time I did some comparisons, it took several days for them to "re-balance" and sound right again. That being said; when they sound right, they sound right!
Keeping in mind that I have a very linear system, the Elrod Signature cables sound extremely good in it. They don't sound warm to me, instead they seem to bring EVERYTHING forward to a realistic and fully fleshed-out state. The high frequencies are smooth, detailed and natural. The mids are full and balanced, from low-mids to hi-mids (these cables have helped my system reproduce the most breath taking chesty quality in female voices I've heard)and the bass is deep, detailed and really well controlled.
If you have a stock X-03, I suspect that's where the issue lies. I've heard this player as well as the X-01 and while it's a nice player to listen to and a real beauty to look at, it's hardly what I'd call linear, natural or 3D. Over the past 2 years, I haven't found the these cables to over emphasize any frequency in my system... there's my $.02 fwiw
Keeping in mind that I have a very linear system, the Elrod Signature cables sound extremely good in it. They don't sound warm to me, instead they seem to bring EVERYTHING forward to a realistic and fully fleshed-out state. The high frequencies are smooth, detailed and natural. The mids are full and balanced, from low-mids to hi-mids (these cables have helped my system reproduce the most breath taking chesty quality in female voices I've heard)and the bass is deep, detailed and really well controlled.
If you have a stock X-03, I suspect that's where the issue lies. I've heard this player as well as the X-01 and while it's a nice player to listen to and a real beauty to look at, it's hardly what I'd call linear, natural or 3D. Over the past 2 years, I haven't found the these cables to over emphasize any frequency in my system... there's my $.02 fwiw