hiendmmoe, a 25+ year Cardas cable owner here. Been through many.
Tension:
While I don’t use their interconnects any more, I still use the speaker cables. Owned and resisted again after the all new clear line came out. Demo’d some of the newer cables from Cardas past few years too. Learned a bit from George Cardas and a good friend. We concluded two things after repeated test case scenarios over a few decades. The stiffer cables do change after "2-3 weeks of total relaxation" "sitting there, not fooling with them" and "not moving them". They come new all coiled up in a box, lots of tension in the wire. After they relax, the wire tension starts to relax, the sound starts to change. Goes from a centered hole sound to a wider and more expansive sound. This occurs regardless if you play them or not. Worst case, give it 30 days and try again, see what happens.
Burn-In:
Skeptics will chime in and let them, most will be people who’ve tried a few different versions of the cables and moved on too quickly. After switching from SS to tube amps, I’ve resold many of my older golden series cables to people with brighter sounding higher end solid state amplifiers looking for a "filter" as I think of it now. I tried and demo’d some of the new "Clear" line, and most of it is pretty neutral sounding, if that’s what you like and want. They can seem to be kinda thin and overly transparent at first. With "6 meters" of cable in XLR, I’ve never gone that long, and while it should not be a problem its a special test case, you will need to give it a long TIME to reveal best-case results.
Others:
I’m using a different brand IC now, and found the same occurs, particularly with "some" complex design OCC continuous copper cables, almost unbearable to listen to first 50hrs. Even to my own disbelief at first, changed at 200-300hrs as per the manufacturer recommendation. Naysayers no need to respond, yes it is hard to believe, and true. Argh, way too long to realize benefit. Almost gave up on my last two pars. No, ears and brain did not "adjust". It just took time. Patience did pay off, eventually.
hiendmmoe,
Can you get to a point of 30+ days of solid playing listening time and (not fooling with moving the cables around at all, letting them rest in place) and report back on results? After this amount of actual playing time, it pretty much is what it "is".
Tension:
While I don’t use their interconnects any more, I still use the speaker cables. Owned and resisted again after the all new clear line came out. Demo’d some of the newer cables from Cardas past few years too. Learned a bit from George Cardas and a good friend. We concluded two things after repeated test case scenarios over a few decades. The stiffer cables do change after "2-3 weeks of total relaxation" "sitting there, not fooling with them" and "not moving them". They come new all coiled up in a box, lots of tension in the wire. After they relax, the wire tension starts to relax, the sound starts to change. Goes from a centered hole sound to a wider and more expansive sound. This occurs regardless if you play them or not. Worst case, give it 30 days and try again, see what happens.
Burn-In:
Skeptics will chime in and let them, most will be people who’ve tried a few different versions of the cables and moved on too quickly. After switching from SS to tube amps, I’ve resold many of my older golden series cables to people with brighter sounding higher end solid state amplifiers looking for a "filter" as I think of it now. I tried and demo’d some of the new "Clear" line, and most of it is pretty neutral sounding, if that’s what you like and want. They can seem to be kinda thin and overly transparent at first. With "6 meters" of cable in XLR, I’ve never gone that long, and while it should not be a problem its a special test case, you will need to give it a long TIME to reveal best-case results.
Others:
I’m using a different brand IC now, and found the same occurs, particularly with "some" complex design OCC continuous copper cables, almost unbearable to listen to first 50hrs. Even to my own disbelief at first, changed at 200-300hrs as per the manufacturer recommendation. Naysayers no need to respond, yes it is hard to believe, and true. Argh, way too long to realize benefit. Almost gave up on my last two pars. No, ears and brain did not "adjust". It just took time. Patience did pay off, eventually.
hiendmmoe,
Can you get to a point of 30+ days of solid playing listening time and (not fooling with moving the cables around at all, letting them rest in place) and report back on results? After this amount of actual playing time, it pretty much is what it "is".