I have the Aries interconnect, and I have to say, I don't find it to have a "rising high end" and I own Revelation 3s (Hale), which would certainly demonstrate that effect.
For the heck (and to get a longer length), I just bought another length of Nordost Quattro Fils today so that the system will be completely wired with Nordost (which DEFINITELY does not have a 'rising high end.' After I put it in the system, I'll be able to tell if the prominence I have in my system in the upper midrange is due to the setup (temporarily in my basement with hard walls, which are somewhat covered but still...).
I had the Shunyata Phoenix speaker cable, by the way, for two weeks, but returned it. The reason: I had two weeks to evaluate it and I couldn't break it in in that time period (the basement got a little flooded for a day or so) fully. In fact, Grant at Shunyata, during a conversation with me, suggested I hadn't really broken them in (I heard a slightly glassy sound) because I'd been playing them at 40-50 db for most of the time. That, he informed me, translated to about 70 hours of break-in time, at which point the cables would be dull, with little in the way of low-level detail. Given that I'd taken the power cord to a former music producer's home and tested my Arcam FMJ 23 against his run-of-the-mill dvd player, and hear what the CD player (and, by extension the power cord [Python] was really capable of, I don't doubt that Shunyata's speaker cables are excellent.
As for wanting more "warmth," I don't think that should be the "job" of the component. In fact, having both Nordost AND Shunyata, and having compared the two interconnects, I would say the Nordost (Quattro Fils only!) are lacking warmth. The Aries interconnect never seemed "cool" or lacking in body - EVER. Shunyata designs strike me as being VERY aware of "body" and "warmth" in a cable. The Phoenix was NOT lacking warmth, but I didn't expect romance; I just didn't want a "cool" sound. In that respect, the Shunyata delivered just fine. I'm going to listen again after I get my Antique Sound Lab Hurricanes (in July) and borrow the cables for a couple of weeks to see how they "deliver" the music then. I could only listen with my Antique Sound Labs 1003, a 30-watt Class A design, and, with an 87db pair of Hales, I was concerned about the volume I could get. But, the basement walls are very hard, and they certainly contribute to the upper midrange glare I get sometimes. I know that, because I've gone to Home Depot and bought wool rugs, put them on the wall, and the glare decreases. I wonder if others who complain have a properly damped room. Many of us are pretty blind to how much a room can color the sound, so we buy better components without realizing we need to damp the ceiling, walls and floors before we can fairly evaluate a product.
I think the Shunyata cables are just fine, unless you want the crystal clear transparency of the Nordosts, which, from my experience, "lighten" the lower midrange and upper bass just a little (just a thought).
