The Cable Co was very generous with their loaner and extended my listening evaluation to accommodate me.
The Audience Au24 SX speaker cable loaner is a 2m pair with BFA style banana connectors.
2 days of break-in was recommended for the used loaners, but I felt that it took about a week before they came into their own.
My system is going through a number revisions, but was stable (with all components fully broken-in) for about five days where I was able to formulate the following quick impressions:
The SXs bring a purity to the sound and additional clarity with an amazing ability to showcase inner detail. There is more air and bloom around instruments, akin to what good tubed components do for a system. Bass has more weight but is also tighter. Image size is believably lifelike. Timbre is richer and palpable.
I have a solid state system, so the additional clarity and transparency makes my system lean slightly analytical. If I had a tubed preamp or tubed amplifier this, in my opinion, would be a non-issue.
I placed the order for a new set of Audience Au24 SXs today.
Note: for anyone considering these speaker cables, give them about 100 hours before listening to them critically. In my opinion, they need about 200 hours. These are rough estimates, just to give a sense for the need for time and patience.
I just added a new preamp and a new power-supply to my system. The new Audience cables will arrive on Friday and will go into another system for break in. I will report back in about two to three weeks once all of the equipment has settled in.