@jimboman ..." but sometimes I feel, for my ears, I’d love a bit more openness / brightness in the higher end."
---
"...An update on my cable journey: ...1) Cardas Clear Cygnus (recommended by Brian at Cardas)".
Yes, Cygnus will work as prescribed. Working with Brian I did some early factory cable testing with Cygnus when they first came out, and later bought two pairs to compare to Golden Reference and Clear Reflections. It all depends on the rest of your system and I found the particular design of the 4-wire Cygnus can provide the added openness and brighter detail you are looking for in comparison to the others in the line. Each of the ICs in the lineup do have a different balance of low/med/high frequency results and presentation in the three different systems I’ve tested them on. Without getting into the weeds too much, the only way to know is to try them.