Interconnect suggestions for Audio Research Ref 5SE?

I am not a fan of cardas sound. I have not heard Clear but auditioned Clear Reflection recently. They were warm, wooly and had a bit of harshness in rendering sibilance. Kind of warm and bright at the same time. It’s very system dependent so if they work for you, great. I don’t think they’re bad cables. Just not for me. 
 

I know people are recommending transparent. It’s tough to audition. Unless you buy brand new. 
 

The original Valhalla could be good. Although that iteration/generation of nordost cables suffered from brightness and thin sound. I compared original Tyr to Tyr 2 and there’s no competition. Tyr 2 is a much better cable. Worth trying the Valhalla though. 

A lot of guess work going on here swapping different cables in/out every few days - and particularly an issue with any of the Cardas interconnects mentioned here. 

While TheCableCo offers a service to try many, I think it also adds more confusion if you don’t have the Cardas cables rested in place for several days - untouched. New cables are worse than used, and Clear, Clear Reflection, even Cygnus, open up and change more after they’ve sat in place and played for more than just a day or two. I've tested and compared this many times with identical pairs of new and used too, giving them at least 14 days and that's hard to do with short demo periods and too many cables getting rotated in/out back and forth. Oh well, best of luck. 

Shunyata Alpha was a very matter of fact studio like quality - detailed but somewhat on a cooler side. 
 

I agree, very detailed but analytical and a bit lean sounding compared to my SR Accelerator.

The Cardas Clear cable is smooth, but it compromises dynamics and low-end weight.

The DH Labs silver-coated copper cable is the opposite: it offers excellent dynamics and low-end performance, though some recordings may exhibit a slightly shimmery treble.

Recently, I experimented with the Veritas Magnus XLR cable, and the result combines the strengths of both Cardas and DH Labs.  Sibilance is well controlled.

ARC REF phono 2SE > REF5SE ( i recall i’m at 12k hours on the odometer > REF 80S

First phono is balanced

ARC puts the $ and engineering into fully balanced… i would look elsewhere for SE..

I have Nordost, and AQ but favor AudioQuest in my system anyway..i use a combination of SKY and Wild Blue. The acoustic zen silver mentioned above are quite good sonics and value… i owned those..

Finally get some NOS USA made Tung Sol in the power supply and 3 HRS Nimdus or similar under both your phono and line stage….

carry on…