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New cables - To judge now or after burn in period?

I am in the midst of auditioning a host of Siltech speaker cables (Siltech Legend 380i & 680i) and interconnects (XLR and RCA - Siltech Legend 380i). Needless to say, they are quite a bit more costly than my existing QED cables (QED Genesis Silver Spiral Bi-wire & QED Signature 40 interconnects).

The Siltech cables are highly recommended by my distributor and seem to be well received by the audiophile press. However, doubts arise as upon trying them at home they do not sound as dynamic as my existing QED cables. While the highs are more resolving and I am hearing things that I have not heard before, the bass seems constricted and the music does not make my feet tap anymore.

Is that because the cables are brand new and have not been burnt in as yet? Or is it because there is no synergy between the cables and my particular system? Or is it a bit of both? If it is a burn in issue, how many hours of burn in is required before I should make a judgment as to whether I prefer the sound of the interconnects and speaker cables?

All inputs or observations are welcome.

128x128dcpillai
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dcpillai's avatar
dcpillai OP
60 posts
 

Thanks everyone for the feedback, especially @ebm  @louisl   @ dinov. That was useful advice.

@ddrave44  , I was frankly not happy with either of the Siltechs. I ultimately went with Silversmith Audio Fidelium speaker cable. Out of the box, I knew that they were the ones that I would keep. It just boggles the mind that the cheaper cables (i.e. the Silversmith) won out over the Siltechs. However, I only returned the Legend 380i to my dealer. I have kept the 680i. It is now happily installed on my study system ( https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9671).

I do intend to swap them at some point in the future and with the Silversmith Audio Fidelium speaker cables and see whether I prefer their sound on my main system ( https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9619). This is the experimentation that keeps some of us audiophiles happy :-)


lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,393 posts
 
The question is why do so many cable designers believe in a cable break-in period, some call it setting-in?

Talk to Chris at VH Audio, he'll recommend the different break-in periods of the many cables he sells and assembles. He also uses a cable cooker on select cables.

 
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