Cable septic

A good rule of thumb is budget about as much for wire as everything else.

Nonsense. HEA is overpriced and price is no guarantee of quality or compatibility. A good portion of the cable market is visually beautiful yet egregiously awful electrically with unflawed components.

Cables interface components and must compliment. If they don’t, which is at fault: cable or component?

I’ve heard the ear-opening revelations millercarbon describes from simply replugging connections.

See http://ielogical.com/Audio/CableSnakeOil.php for some background on cable properties.

That said, I am quite angry with audio cable companies for creating 'ladders' of tens of progressively more expensive cables that I believe are designed to squeeze money from perfectionist audiophiles who yearn for that elusive "step up".

They are just as likely to be worse. I've heard many demos where the High Priced Spread was clearly wrong for the equipment, yet the salesman prattled extolled the faults as virtues. And it's not a matter of opinion because I recorded the material!

Last thing: I simply don't know why cables do sound different. 

It's in the math.

Read http://ielogical.com/Audio/CableSnakeOil.php and the Garen Galeis papers linked there.

Decware Zen switch box

With a switch box you have C vs D, not A vs B.

And unless the box is scrupulously designed, A-A will also give C-D.

And, IMO, Cable Burn In is an outgrowth of evaluating cables [or anything for that matter] not in the system and room in which it will be used.

The poor schlub gets the item home, connects it to vastly different gear and rightly determines the sonics are worse.

As ALL systems change in response to environmental conditions and familiarity breeds contempt, at some point the victim will confirm things truly have gotten better.

@mmporche - I looked up your speakers. Resonance city, zero time coherence. Forget about cables. Your speakers are too low res to matter.

I have always been intrigued by Synergistic Research. They seem to place an emphasis on research...

... into how a fool and his money are best parted.

Time coherence has zero relevancy to whether cable changes are heard. To suggest otherwise is a categorical mistake.

Changes will be heard, but since the speakers are incoherent, one cannot assess anything but their affect as tone controls.

In your review, you don't mention phase or resonance, yet every measurement extant of the Voxativ drivers show impedance discontinuities due to cone resonances. They may sound alive, but they are certainly not accurate.

^^^ Some can hear cable differences. Some cannot.

Some people have perfect pitch. Some have relative pitch. Some are tone deaf.

Far too many listeners are able to reliably detect [80%+] differences in ABX blind tests for there to be no difference.

If one does the math, there are calculable differences. For there to be no difference would mean there could also be no difference between anything electronic. For no one to detect differences requires all hearing be identical.

Price is no arbiter. Materials, geometry and connected components determine sonic difference potential. See ieLogical CableSnakeOil. Please illuminate any errors.