Cardas Clear Reflection advice needed

I have only used RCA interconnects and can clearly hear differences when changing brands and levels within brands.

But a search of this forum will find that according to Atmasphere (Ralph), if your components are fully balanced as are the components he builds, there should be little if any difference in the sound presentation of different XLR cables. You would need to read his explanation for the technical reason why.

It appears that a lot of audio equipment with XLR connections does not meet the definition standard of being fully balanced for whatever reason.

@jl1ny @sdl4 do you recall what your early settling-in period was like with your new Clear Ref interconnects?  

Going through it again now, and hours 1-4 was nothing like hour 12 or again at 24+.  The rollercoaster changes were notable at first, and my source has been on uninterrupted. Will report back later once I have a lot more time on them. Logging it as I go. The cycle both good/bad/good is very similar to most of my former Cardas and Analysis Plus cables over the past few years. So far so good though.   

@decooney 

I’ve taken a new approach with cables, I install them and let them run at low level for 24hrs before I sit down for my 1st listening (at night when my rig sounds best) and I’ll write down my initial impressions. After that I let them run for another 5 to 7 days before I’ll listen again and compare notes from the 1st listening. Personally, I can’t do a daily assessment with new gear, as I suck at detecting micro nuances. I’ve that found giving the cables a good 160 hours burn in provides a clearer sense of what they bring into the system.

@decooney  It's been a while since I added Clear Reflection ICs to my system, and I don't recall specifics of the sound during break-in. Cardas cables do have a reputation for requiring fairly long break-in periods. I do remember that the ups and downs with my cables smoothed out after a few weeks. Even near the beginning, I did not have the urge to pull them out of the system since they brought a certain "rightness" to the sound.

@sdl4 @jl1ny Thanks for the updates you guys. Translates to my reality as well, same with these as all other Cardas I’ve owned past 25+ yrs while these are a little more clear in a nice way yet retaining some of the body and characteristics we mentioned before. @sdl4 what you said was key and resonated with me, i.e. "until I realized that I wasn’t listening to music quite as frequently as I had been". This happened over the years for me too, moving in different direction trying different ICs. Finding the right balance between totally transparent with "do no harm" vs something that’s extra engaging to the point where you want to "keep listening" is always a target goal. Its been fun rediscovering some of the same old familiar trails once again, Thx :)