Brainwater,
I went through a similar break-in process with Paragon interconnects. The first several days, they were hard to listen to. Very bright, almost harsh in the treble.
After the first week, things got better, and the 'brightness' transformed into what I'd call 'liquidity'. Tons of treble detail and air, but without any hashiness. The midrange rounded out, and bass came alive.
Actually, the bass became shockingly good- it is one of the things that really makes the Paragons stand out in my system. They provide impact and definition, without sacrificing low frequency extension. I've never heard kettle drums and timpanis sound as realistic- you can hear everything from the mallet stroke to the body resonances to the propagation of echoes in the acoustic space.
What the Paragon does better than any cable I've heard is recreate an acoustic space- to me, this goes beyond 'imaging' to incorporate all of the secondary acoustic cues one gets from being present at a performance- echoes, reverbation, etc.
I've heard a number of interconnects (Z-squared Au-Au, Aural Thrills Palladium, Audience AU-24) that provide 'pinpoint imaging' by essentially shrinking the sonic image- things sound more localized because they are smaller. I can see how this could be advantageous in some systems, but it doesn't work in mine. On the other end, some interconnects produce very large and deep soundstages, but at the cost of more diffuse or 'larger than life' sonic images (Stealth PGS-3D, Kimber Select 1130, Wireworld Super Eclipse). For my circumstances (relatively compact system in a relatively small room, mostly classical listening) this presentation is preferable to shrinking the soundstage.
Once they are fully broken in (200+ hours, in my case) the Paragons are the only cables I've tried that provide a superbly precise soundstage without shrinking the sonic image. No smear, no diffuse images, no 'larger than life' performers- one hears everything beautifully presented as a coherent, holographic, life-size reproduction of the performance. It gets spooky at times, but in a good way.
Of course, system synergy is incredibly important, so your mileage will vary. For what it is worth, here are my components:
Rowland Concentra Integrated
Wilson-Benesch ACT-One Speakers
Meridian G08 CD
Equitech Son of Q Power Cond.
Alpha-Core AG-2 speaker cables
XLR inteconnects- Pure Note Paragon
JPS Labs Digital power cord (CD)
Granite Audio 560 power cord (Amp)
Assorted Sonex/RPG room treatment
Regarding a comparison between the Paragon and the Cerulean- they are similar in that both have the amazing soundstaging I described above. Where they differed in my system is that the Cerulean always retained some brittleness and hardness in the treble. For the Paragons, that went away completely following breakin. The Ceruleans where nearly, but not quite, good enough to replace my Kimber Select 1130s- the Paragons did so without breaking too much of a sweat.
Hope this helps- good luck.
I went through a similar break-in process with Paragon interconnects. The first several days, they were hard to listen to. Very bright, almost harsh in the treble.
After the first week, things got better, and the 'brightness' transformed into what I'd call 'liquidity'. Tons of treble detail and air, but without any hashiness. The midrange rounded out, and bass came alive.
Actually, the bass became shockingly good- it is one of the things that really makes the Paragons stand out in my system. They provide impact and definition, without sacrificing low frequency extension. I've never heard kettle drums and timpanis sound as realistic- you can hear everything from the mallet stroke to the body resonances to the propagation of echoes in the acoustic space.
What the Paragon does better than any cable I've heard is recreate an acoustic space- to me, this goes beyond 'imaging' to incorporate all of the secondary acoustic cues one gets from being present at a performance- echoes, reverbation, etc.
I've heard a number of interconnects (Z-squared Au-Au, Aural Thrills Palladium, Audience AU-24) that provide 'pinpoint imaging' by essentially shrinking the sonic image- things sound more localized because they are smaller. I can see how this could be advantageous in some systems, but it doesn't work in mine. On the other end, some interconnects produce very large and deep soundstages, but at the cost of more diffuse or 'larger than life' sonic images (Stealth PGS-3D, Kimber Select 1130, Wireworld Super Eclipse). For my circumstances (relatively compact system in a relatively small room, mostly classical listening) this presentation is preferable to shrinking the soundstage.
Once they are fully broken in (200+ hours, in my case) the Paragons are the only cables I've tried that provide a superbly precise soundstage without shrinking the sonic image. No smear, no diffuse images, no 'larger than life' performers- one hears everything beautifully presented as a coherent, holographic, life-size reproduction of the performance. It gets spooky at times, but in a good way.
Of course, system synergy is incredibly important, so your mileage will vary. For what it is worth, here are my components:
Rowland Concentra Integrated
Wilson-Benesch ACT-One Speakers
Meridian G08 CD
Equitech Son of Q Power Cond.
Alpha-Core AG-2 speaker cables
XLR inteconnects- Pure Note Paragon
JPS Labs Digital power cord (CD)
Granite Audio 560 power cord (Amp)
Assorted Sonex/RPG room treatment
Regarding a comparison between the Paragon and the Cerulean- they are similar in that both have the amazing soundstaging I described above. Where they differed in my system is that the Cerulean always retained some brittleness and hardness in the treble. For the Paragons, that went away completely following breakin. The Ceruleans where nearly, but not quite, good enough to replace my Kimber Select 1130s- the Paragons did so without breaking too much of a sweat.
Hope this helps- good luck.