Question for Platter spinners regarding IC

@lewm 
Cartridge is MM Ortophone 2m black, yesterday's listening session was enlightening.  It was obvious immediately that the Wildcat was lacking in some aspects. Sounded a little colder or duller, not really sure what to call it. The Columbia was more lively and open but also imparted a perceived sibilance, especially noticeable on older 1970s albums. 180g reissues were less noticeable. I'll play with the cables for a while and in the meantime shop around for a better phono interconnect at reasonable cost. 
After this little experiment I'd  be interested to hear recommendations of ICs to try from the community

"I am currently using an AQ Wildcat phono IC between my VPI Prime and Rogue Pharaoh Integrated. I am interested in advice and opinions of installing an AQ Columbia IC in its placed..."

gilltgh-
consider checking out https://www.thecableco.com instead of getting suggestions from a mixed bag of opinion here. 

Since the cable thing is already a contentious subject, allowing your own ears to judge what's "best" may be the answer.

As long as the IC's are shielded to help prevent excessive noise, they will work. How they "sound" is another thing. Tech specs can't ensure a subjective call.

Making it a science project IMO, guarantees only needless riff on a thread from the wisdom and know it alls.

I use Nordost thru my entire system, including my VPI.
VPI seems to be in the Nordost camp since they use it in some of their offerings.

Before driving yourself mad with cable insanity, I would ensure having the highest performing phono stage and cartridge for your VPI. 

To the OP, I would not be too quick to blame perceived sibilance on the new cable.  There are a myriad of other causes, such as VTA, VTF, the cartridge by nature, etc., that may contribute to or cause sibilance. It’s possible that the superior performance of the new cable has simply revealed sibilance that was masked by the previous cable.  Or that sibilance is on the LP itself. Try increasing VTF by 0.1 or 0.2g.

If you like what you have right now, I advise sticking with it for at least several weeks or months so you get a fixed idea of the sonic character of your system with this cable in place.  THEN you might want to play around, if that sort of thing appeals to you.  In that event, the idea of borrowing cables from the Cable Company (mentioned by tablejockey above), where you can have a free home trial, is a good one.

And for a countervailing opinion, I have found that the low to medium price Nordost cables make my ears bleed. In fairness, I have never heard their megabuck top line cables.

Good thinking, thanks guys.