... what is Settling Time in cables and interconnects...

Memory? I had a set of cables with amnesia too! Gonna try shock therapy next.

Yes. Playing music through your cables for a hundred hours is in essence shock therapy.  Finally resolution 

@glupson.... "So I just took all my cables and dragged them around out in the snow...."Nothing works like good old cryoing the cables. And you did it in organic and gluten-free way. Kudos to you. No wonder they sounded better. Could ears falling off have also influenced the sound to some extent? Maybe that is all that Van Gogh was trying to achieve. Get sweeter timbre and faster transients."
Yes, I actually forgot to put down a flap on my Russian snow hat.....lost an ear. Much sweeter transients and timbre on my right side..... Happy for that balance knob too. Plus had to upgrade the gauge of speaker wire on the left side to help compensate.  Thank you Home Depot.....

What an absolute load of bunk, burning in cables and settling time.
Recording studios must be really messed up, they can't let the patch cables get enough "settling time" between changing patch points.
The fantasy some people will believe. PT Barnum laughs from beyond the grave.