@mulveling I went through those few minutes: "crap... is that how my electronics actually sound?" then I remembered how sensitive my system is to the most minute changes and to settling down and burn-in phenomenons (I mean those are so easy to hear on my system, it's scary sometimes) and I more or less expected that it would "settle down", remembering what I had read here and there.
and indeed, yesterday the bass frequencies were back, the sound was much less "bleached" and sterile, and the treble was much smoother (almost to a fault). Depth and relief are coming back as well.
Now I just hope life and "plankton" will come back too, as the sound still feels a little bit too "hi-fi-ish" and smooth, but I have good hopes.
On the subject of silver plated connectors: I've just ordered the same cable I use throughout my system, but with silver plating instead of rhodium. I will see how different it sounds.
@fuzztone I might try some more expensive contact enhancer at some point.