Berkeley Alpha DAC: cabling and breaking-in time

Branislav wrote"
"Once your Berkeley is broken in, i'd love to hear your impressions how the Berkeley compares to the Ear Acute...thank you"

Yes, I would too. I found it a little curious that you would write that the Ear sounded better, but you are continuing on with the BADA as if you presume an outboard DAC has to sound better than a one-box player. That's not necessarily true. Have you tried changing the tubes in the EAR? They make a big difference.

My new Berkeley broke in quickly with subtle changes rather than anything major. I leave it powered up most of the time.

I also tried a number of mostly balanced digital cables but ended up liking the Oyaide 510 terminated with bnc's very much. This cable has the added benefit of being very reasonably priced.
One word of caution, the bass was initially extremely exaggerated and bloated (really bad) to the point that I almost got rid of the cable.
Gradually over about a month the bass become tighter and more realistic and the best I'd tried with the Berkeley. If you decide to try the Oyaide you must give it time to settle in.
BTW: My cable was cryo'd although I'm not sure this makes any difference or not. Definitely don't want to argue about it. 8^)

Maz65, forgot to mention, I owned an EAR Acute as well. Really liked the sound, especially with some tube rolling, but felt the CD transport was a bit on the cheesy side.
As far as I could tell most everything was replaced in the Acute except the transport. Just curious, did you check out the EAR stand alone DAC at all?