Ever downgrade and have better sound?

I agree with Schubert. Many times for me also, not only with
cables, but equipment too.

Not very often, but it can certainly happen very easily.

Strictly a judgement call in my case, but I preferred my small $500 Triangle Titus speakers to B&W P6s I owned prior that cost almost 4X as much.

Accessories (I consider wires to be accessories) are a different story. IT is hard to predict what will work best until you decide on something and try.

Yes, it happens. Infact, I have made a habit out of continually downgrading. It makes HiFi fun again. Here are just a few of my encounters: From Sota Sapphire/Signet X50 arm to ARXA with homemade arm. From Adcom 565 mono's to Fisher 15 watt tube mono's. From Proceed CDP 1 to modified Sony playstation.

Gotta ask the question: what does a "downgrade" mean really?

Cost less? No doubt even used market prices do not always indicate relative merit. So a "downgrade" in cost certainly may sound better.

Can't be that a downgrade does not sound as good. The answer would be obvious in this case. :^)

My approach to buying is to know for sure what I am after, then identify the candidates that appear most likely to meet my needs. Cost is always a consideration. IF I cannot identify a clear reason to spend more I do not.

Result over the years is I have had few cases of better sound via intentionally downgrading. I am always looking to improve for minimal cost. Its easier to take smaller steps I think and see where you land before moving ahead too far.

Substitute 'simplify' for 'downgrade' and I'm in hog heaven. If anything my end result today is far better than in the days when I had a bunch of 'near-SOTA' stuff. I attribute this to a better understanding of the speaker/room interface and electronics synergy issues, if nothing else.