Interconnect cable upgrade disapointment

Here is a trick that I don't think anyone has mentioned to my knowledge around here. It will only work if you still have the old cables and that is burn them in and live with them for whatever time ( 6 months should be plenty ) and then switch back to the old cables. I found this way to be more revealing. Like when I switched my Cardas NR's down to Monsters, big difference and very noticeable.

See if you can borrow a cable cooker. I can't get over the improvement from my Hagerman FryKleaner (the pro model, not the little one). Even cables that have been in use for years will surprise you with the way they sound after 72 hours on this thing. I've also wired a harness to cook tonearm cables -- which NEVER break in because of the minuscule signal they carry -- with pretty spectacular results. Dave

Perhaps I should demo some higher level audioquest and a different line of cables. I will make a trip to my local dealer.

FWIW - you should NOT expect to find a substantial difference in one good cable to another more expensive good cable if your equipment is well matched to start with. Perhaps your ears are just confirming what should be expected from an engineering point of view ( a wire is a wire and without an active component or a ground loop issue one should not expect night and day substantial differences )

Shadorne, It's very likely he didn't hear a distinct difference, because there is not a distinct difference in the cables themselves. If someone can demonstrate that the Topaz and Cobra are quite different from each other, the I'll be happy to reconsider the conclusion.

I don't believe it has anything to do with how well matched his gear is. Of course, the better the synergy/match between box gear the better the assessment of the cables. :)

Joe, you have very nice components and in my experience if you don't hear a difference right away good or bad, hours of waiting aren't going to change it....IMHO. I've owned alot of cables and I have never experienced the phenomenon of significant change after burn in. No doubt a small change not a big one.

My best example is Kimber Select 1030's - some say they need 500 to 1,000 hours to sound best. In my system they sounded good right out of the box and maybe 5% better after 1,000+ hours. System synergy is the most important factor. For me, the most important synergy with cables is with the cartridge (if your into analog) and the speaker.