Garebear....all can tell you is how I hear Cardas cables in MY system. The Cable Co. sent me a number of Cadas cables...and with the Ayre/Cardas I ownded, I could audition all permutations of Cardas. They ALL had a Cardas sound....most of them were dramatically colored, but they all had a somewhat grainy sound that came through my speakers with too much annoyance.. I am a pro violinist, and playing back recorded violins.... my own and others..(more noticeable on massed strings)...I had to remove the cables from my system. I spoke at length to Coleen Cardas who told me that they just needed more break-in time, but after a month of waiting, nothing improved in that regard. I found this somewhat odd since Ayre recommended your very model Cardas to me. Maybe its my speaker (Vandersteen 5A), or my power grid, but Cardas is not for me. ...to be quite open...I have Sennheiser earphones that I was able to wire in balanced configuration with Cardas cable, and the problem I experienced with the interconnects, power cords, and speaker cables, did not raise its ugly head. Regarding Purist cables.... I found their midrange to be magical...lots and lots of depth, air, separation, etc....but it was similar to turning up the color control on the tv....just too much...not real...but quite gorgeous. I would imagine its what life would be like on some drugs...but I was looking for a more natural sound.
