@rspyder,
Great and articulate feedback concerning your individual experience with cables. I also have a hybrid in terms of mixed cables. I just added a 1 meter XLR Audioquest Fire cable between my Aesthetix Io Eclipse and Octave Jubillee preamp. This cable replaced my beloved Audioquest Sky’s that I have owned for years. I use pure silver custom built Neotech speaker cables, and use Tempo electric ICs between Octave Jubilee preamp and amps, McIntosh Mc2301s.
In terms of cable character, based on my humble experiences, I have tried many cables over the years, and mostly what I have learned, is that cable capacitance, shielding, and connectors, the way they are connected to the cable, can have an influence on the sound. I kicked out notably high end cables when installed in my system and felt that they were flat in sound and muddied the bass, or reduced the bass qualities. The Neotech pure copper ICs with WBTs, either copper or silver connectors, constantly remained in my system as my default reference. The Skys changed that some, they provide me the natural qualities of sound you described with the Odin 2. The similarities between these cables which exhibit natural and organic sound, seem to me to be perhaps low capacitance. I know that’s not all, it’s the combined ingredients and interaction with the system which will determine the final sound. I guess, what I mean to say, is that cables on either side of the price spectrum can sound better or worse in ones system, depending on the combined or totality of the components in the system and the type of cable build. I would love to demo a cable such as an Odin in the future to gauge what influence, or lack of influence, it has on the sound on my system, and how it compares with my current benchmark of sound qualities with my cables.
Nice system. Previously, I owned Octave MRE130s with Super Black Box, and Octave HP 500SE preamp with built in phono.
Off-topic Question? What tubes are you using in your Octave Jubilee? Send me a PM if you like to discuss the Jubilee. Not many owners on the forums, Thanks.