Interconnect cable upgrade disapointment

Shadorne, It's very likely he didn't hear a distinct difference, because there is not a distinct difference in the cables themselves. If someone can demonstrate that the Topaz and Cobra are quite different from each other, the I'll be happy to reconsider the conclusion.

I don't believe it has anything to do with how well matched his gear is. Of course, the better the synergy/match between box gear the better the assessment of the cables. :)

Joe, you have very nice components and in my experience if you don't hear a difference right away good or bad, hours of waiting aren't going to change it....IMHO. I've owned alot of cables and I have never experienced the phenomenon of significant change after burn in. No doubt a small change not a big one.

My best example is Kimber Select 1030's - some say they need 500 to 1,000 hours to sound best. In my system they sounded good right out of the box and maybe 5% better after 1,000+ hours. System synergy is the most important factor. For me, the most important synergy with cables is with the cartridge (if your into analog) and the speaker.

Papajoe - I had both of them but not XLR. I guess by Cobra you mean King Cobra. First I had Topaz then upgraded to Ruby. After that I upgraded again to Viper and then to King Cobra, Currently I have Acoustic Zen Absolute XLR.
King Cobra is the same IC as older Python. Audioquest moved manufacturing to China and changed pricing (and names) to stay competitive. Python was about 3x more expensive than King Cobra.

Topaz and King Cobra are in completely different class. Topaz was not very detailed, Ruby was better bot not extended on both ends. Viper was very dynamic with better bass control, King Cobra added smooth and extended top - very natural sounding cable.

Cables need playing time to polarize dielectric. If you don't play for a while they discharge and you have to start again. Battery on newer families of Audioquest ICs put voltage in order of 30-70V to polarize dielectric and to keep it.

Not your brand but every other cable I have tried needed at least 150 hours to come up. If your jumping levels....the improvement should be apparent right away...if only upgrading to the newer version...then the breakin is needed. A synergy with the same cable line is important....if one cable is a mismatch with the others...that might limit your overall gain.

The break in time is determined by how long it takes you to believe that there is a change. This is because there is no actual change between 1 minute and 2000 hours of use. Change likely will occur after many years, decades, centuries, or millenia due to disintegration of the materials.