steakster, I do not wish to be terse with you. A review of some facts is pertinent, since you raised the topic of TEO cables. I wish to add some needed context in response to your criticism.
It seems you tried one type of the TEO ICs. The community will note that I never recommend demo of cables in isolation, i.e. for mixing in systems. It is a poor way to assess cables. I always recommend the proper method of assessment of cables is in entire sets - precisely as I reviewed the TEO cables. (If they would have a power cord, that, too would have been in the review). The fact that you did not get good results with them does not surprise me, given that you seem to not have used them as the manufacturer recommended, in a set, and that there can be quite a bit of variance in outcomes and preferences between systems.
In fact, it is quite easy to get far less than ideal results when mixing cables. It is not difficult for me at all to make a system sound as you describe by mixing cables, and I know the sonic properties of the ones in my possession so well that I can select the actual cable prior to achieve the sonic properties. So, the fact that a more diffuse and tubey sound resulted is not surprising to me.
Further, it seems you tried them in one system. I build many rigs with much gear, which obviously gives a much larger frame of reference to discuss the cables. I also worked over time with several TEO ICs, which do carry different sonic properties within their design parameters' limitations. I recommended the TEO cables because they can be used to set up beautiful systems. Use of the interconnects in isolation would not have the nearly capacity to reveal what he line of cables can do, and your use of a portion of them in one rig is not equatable to my use of the set of them in many systems.
Your comment has given me the opportunity to once again point out how the vast majority of audiophiles, and even many reviewers, do not use superior methods in establishing and evaluating systems. :)
