AQ Earth interconnects..echo?

I have the Columbia's myself, and looking at the Earth, I don't see that much difference between the 2 cables. Its possible that the Earth is revealing more details than the Columbia, showing weaknesses in the recording and equipment. If Earth was silver, your issue would be more plausible.

AQ has a huge problem with people selling fake cables, but unless you say otherwise, I'll assume you bought them new from an authorized dealer.

There's one simple thing you can try that will only take a few minutes, but to be honest, I'm not sure if an IC can give this type of problem. But if you are using balanced cables, maybe. Put the Earth back in the system and listen to a recording that you know well, something that has a strong certer vocal image. Make sure the image still has that strong center image with the Earth in place. If the vocals appear to be coming from a different location (not center between the speakers), or they are greatly diffused, the cables may be wired wrong internally. And it will probably be just 1 of the 2. But again, I'm not sure if you can even have that type of phase problem with IC's, but there's no harm in trying.

Also, try the cables in a different location. Maybe they are not a good match for whatever equipment you have them with.

You state that you are hearing more echo or reverb? It might be that you are hearing more ambiance retrieval, which is a good thing. It may be more open and you are hearing the spatial cues more with the Earth cable?

Perhaps that's it,more ambiance retreval-
Could have done without..
$1000 is alot for these cables,
Regret the purchase