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Initial disappointment with 1st set of “expensive’ IC’s...

I’ve been slow working my way to equipping my rig with all Cardas as I’ve been fan of their quality/sound signature an for a long time. I just received 2 sets of Clear Light IC’s which I’m using DAC to Pre and Pre to Amp. up until now all other Cardas cables that I have were obtained used and sounded great from day 1. The Clear Light however are brand new..when I sat down to give them a listen I was surprised not to hear any improvement...I was actually disappointed to hear what I can describe as a fatter bass and subdued upper end. My prior IC’s were Shirokazu Yazaki Belden 8402. I admittedly do not have golden ears but the difference was obvious. I’m interested to hear what other Cardas owners have to say about how their cables sounded when 1st installed. 
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bruce19
213 posts
 
I wonder if anybody has ever put together two identical systems except for the cables and done  listening tests? Seems like the only way to get around the qualifiers that you can’t move a cable and it Has to burn/break in for hundreds of hours. Any dealers out there who have tried this?
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,795 posts
 
@oldhvy With respect, can you explain why people getting the terms “break” and “burn” conflated sets you off? I am asking dispassionately. What is it about that misuse of language that mangles the logic of the topic? You don’t seem the sort of guy to nitpick, so I’m honestly seeking your clarification. 
dill
2,429 posts
 
" The difference between cables should be obvious the moment you swap one for another."

Not true, that is why A-B tests are flawed. Many times I have been listening to familiar music and heard sound clues I had never heard before, weeks or month later. That brush stroke, fingers rubbing on guitar strings, increased or diminished depth or width, background sounds created by the musician touching the instruments, decay, pitch, vocals becoming more clear or smeared, etc.

If one hears a difference in a A-B comparison in an instant, how can one know it is better or worse, long term?
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
4,795 posts
 
@dill I too have heard differences only after some period of time has passed. What’s hard for me is that I cannot tell if that is due to the equipment or to my own ability --or changed interest -- to notice later details, later. I’ve looked at (for example) the Mona Lisa painting many times, but I only really noticed the color shades of the mountains and river as compared with her figure later on. Was that because I got a new monitor? Or was it due to the way attention shifts based on interest? I take it a similar type of ambiguity is part of listening and some may simply be impossible to get clear about.
robert53
404 posts
 
I have been using various Cardas cables for many years. They always need a very long break in, usually a couple of hundred hours to sound their best. If you have a burn in cd like XLO, that will speed things up. Even if I unplug cables and move them around after break in they will have to settle in for a while again but not as long as the initial burn in, so just keep playing music and evaluate them after a couple of hundred hours. Good luck. I recently bought a demo pair of Clear Cygnus ICs for my turntable and I had to burn those in for a while too before they sounded right. 
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