Interconnect suggestions for Audio Research Ref 5SE?

First, I have had a loaner Ref 5SE in my system and it really didn't improve anything over my MSB Discrete with Premier Power Base directly to my Pass 250.8, which I suppose is a testament to MSB's volume control.  However, when I switched up to the REF 6, it was a big and very noticeable improvement over the 5SE, just FYI.  But putting that aside, I am a big Shunyata fan and use their Sigma XLR's.  I also use a Sigma PC for the REF 6 which I thought made a nice difference over the stock PC.  I am very pleased with the sound and have a Shunyata loom.

MIT

@kymanor1, I used to have MIT cables, I can't remember which though.  I thought that they were pretty good but moved on to ones that I preferred more in my system.  The one thing that I really didn't like about MIT is their BS about "poles of articulation," as some sort of mumbo jumbo explanation of why their network box makes the cables sound better.  I have very low tolerance for sales BS, and that sort of thing, lacking any possible scientific basis, just turns me off.  Not that MIT makes bad cables, but I wish they didn't resort to such made-up nonsense to upsell you on their line of cables.

Give MiT a call.  They always answer the phone. The people I have talked to are a wealth of information.  There are so many different approaches to audio cable design.  Very difficult to believe that any of these big companies are BS. They are just different.

tomic601: I have the Ref 5SE and a Ref Phono 3! So, rather similar there. I wonder how the Tung Sol tubes and the 3 HRS Nimdus feet affected the sound as I appear to be trying to resolve some sort of brightness heard at first in female vocals but really, to a much smaller degree, throughout (in acoustic guitar and violin...). I didn't have this brightness issue with my LS-16.

Back to interconnects... so, I kept the Cardas Clear in place for a couple more days as decooney and salectric suggested. I am still left thinking I was listening to cables rather than the music... fairly coherent sound but definitely rounded off.

I moved the runs of Shunyata Alpha to the CD player and listened to those for a couple of days. I was fairly pleased with the musicality, detail, dynamics, coherence...but they were bright sounding. I had WyWire Diamond between the amp and pre- and suspected they were contributing to the brightness. So, I inserted the Synergistic Atmosphere Excites there instead of the WyWire. That seemed to mitigate some of the brightness but also messed up the coherent sound found with the Shunyata...with that in mind I reached out to thecableco.com and had them send be a second run of the Shunyata Alpha X...I put those between the amp and pre- and the second run between the pre- and the CD player last night. I've had the stereo running all day today trying to get them settled in...so far appears that did no good at all as still bright....dammit!

I also received a used piece of Nordost Valhalla 1, from another vendor, today but have not done anything with that yet as am trying to give the two runs of Shunyata Alpha X a chance.

I see moto_man indicates he runs the Shunata Sigma. I wonder how it differs from the Alpha and whether it will help address this brightness I'm trying to control. So far, i like the Shunyata's the best out of all this listening...if i could only get a handle on  this brightness.

For what it's worth, I also reached out to Audio Research by email asking for feedback. We'll see if they respond.