Intuitively, everybody’s experiences are going to be entirely bespoke, ergo, one-size does NOT fit all.
Influencing factors listed from the CARDAS website:
It is said, wire is just wire. In reality, a high-end audio cable must balance resistance, capacitance, inductance, conductance, velocity of propagation, RF radiation and absorption, mechanical resonance, strand interaction, high filtering, reflections, electrical resonance, dissipation factors, envelope delay, phase distortion, harmonic distortion, structural return loss, corrosion, cross-talk, bridge-tap and the interaction of these and a hundred other things. As a high-end cable manufacturer, Cardas Audio strives to address every detail of cable and conductor construction, no matter how small...”
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
I upgraded from an all NORDOST FREY loom (flat, many/multiple very thin and narrow gauge silver coated ferrules design ) to comparatively thick, round, and heavy all CARDAS CLEAR all Cu loom.(Cardas’ cable design incorporates, Golden Ratio, Constant Q, Cross-Field, pure copper Litz, conductor technology.)
- That annoying digital “edge” and “brightness” was finally gone, with no loss in detail, along with a noticeable step-up in dynamics, presence, and slam.
The changes were in steps ( not en mass) …ICs first, then power , and finally speaker cables. The audio improvements were incremental in lockstep.
- your experience(s) will be ENTIRELY system dependent… full stop. The NORDOST array for me was fine,,,, the CARDAS array for me was better I’m no techno nerd to pontificate the techno detail why.
TAKEAWAY SUGGESTIONS
I would not parse out the potential effects of changing ICs ( pros and cons) independently from the effects of your speaker cables and your power cables. Audio performance changes ( pro and con) is determined by the SUM of the parts in the system linkage from cradle-to-grave…
its ENTIRELY system dependent that can only be assessed by hands-on experimentation. Roll up your sleeves . It’s a journey and not a destination approach.
3rd party Anecdotal posts herein are all independent comments only to be cautioned as such, and especially without any assurance that your experience will be comparable .
Happy New Year and happy hunting.