Cardas Neutral Ref IC v Cross IC Sonic traits??

It's how the cable's are manufactured, the Reference would sound a little warmer. Check out The Cardas site explaining their construction.
http://www.cardas.com/content.php?area=insights&content_id=17&pagestring=Cable+Construction+Guide

au contrare.... I hear Neutral Ref as the most neutral sounding of their cables....maybe that's why they named it Neutral Ref.... In my experience with Cardas, my system doesn't like any Cardas cable at all.

The differece is whatever your ears perceive, not what another poster hears or writes.

Cables are system and listener dependent; the chance of somebody here having the same components, room, and listening preferences as you are somewhere between slim and none.