What most important in the sound of your cables?

I too burned out on trying cables 10 years ago when I went through the "process", it's very fatiguing. The problem is finding one that doesn't rear it's head. Too fast, lean, warm, bright, detailed, not detailed enough etc. The best cables and the most important attribute to me is the one that least alters the signal, the "first do no harm" rule. How does one know? You never absolutely do but through experience you recognize the ones that do it less.

A bit over a year ago I found the cables that did this for me at a higher level than my then reference Stereovox. It only came about through the urging of a friend to try them collectively. A local dealer has been touting and using them for years. When I put them in the system there was a notable improvement in coherence and a removal of an added warmth that I didn't realize was there to the extent it was, subtle but noticable. What was most notable was the improvement of the timbre and a greater sense of the performance of musicians. I don't sweat it on what I may be missing through a "better" cable, there is always different. These are good enough, they meet the most important criteria of "natural" I've come across to date.

If you have a system that requires a "tone control" there are many out there. These cables are NOT for you but to try ONLY if you are completely satisfied with everything else you have in place. Sorry Jmcgrogan, I couldn't help myself, forgive me but it is my experience and belief that many cables are designed with that in mind. The best ones ARE transparent, DO sound natural and most importantly don't bring undue attention to what they are suppose to do, pass the signal. These are the Omega Micro line for me. I'm sure there are others as well and if I find one equal to these there is a good chance I would switch out because these thin ribbons are quite fragile and VERY fussy.

Just get out of the way!

..that it has no sound

@stringreen@rja@tubegroover. I found high fidelity ct1. I have been very happy with the high fidelity ultimate reference cable that they have. Open,natural and transparent .

Clarity.
I just upgraded the wires in my interconnects from my source to volume control.
As impressed as I was by upgrading the RCA to Furutech 102R, upgrading to their Alpha OCC wires has really done the trick.
The improvement in detail is very enjoyable.
The sound has been cleaned up of a guaze like film that was attached to the instruments.I never really noticed how much was there until I got rid of some more of it.
So, now I've ordered about 16 mtrs for the long runs to the amps.
Hopefully the increase in clarity will continue.

All cables have some kind of sound or sonic signature,no getting around that.

The hard part is that we get accustomed to the sound we get from our current cables and accept that sound as great, good enough or classify it as being mellow and soft.
Until you get to listen to a system that gets closer to the truth,in other words,when you hear a system that is less coloured than your own,you never really know how much music you can be missing when the cables you accept as musical are really just veiling the sound.

My advice is to try as many different cables as you can,but first, seek out a really great system that tells it like it is, and then try to get your system to deliver as much of that sound for what you can afford in cables.
Or, for $500.00 you can DIY a pretty decent 1 mtr pair of IC,that will compete with some cables costing twice as much or more.