between q-10's and satori last year for a week.
the satori was a well burned-in 8' pair loaned from a dealer/friend, and the q-10's were brand new 6' pair.
the cables were tested with my system including quicksilver mini mite powered nola minis with a quicksilver line stage and apogee mini dac (various cdp's); i know, not the most expensive or exotic system but surprisingly resolute and detailed with the right tweaks and room treatment in my small (16'x12'x8') listening room.
music used was mostly classical instrumental (symphonies, concertos, string quartets, piano solos) and acoustic jazz.
my initial impression on the satori; sweet, rich, warm and slightly euphonic-a very slight yet nice upper-bass (around 100hz) bump. i also noticed a great 3-d rendition of instrumental timbre.
strings sounded especially nice, if a little too sweet.
steinway overtones and attacks were well communicated w/o sounding like yamaha.
what i did not get from satori was airy overtones and "breath" from instruments, especially jazz some saxophones and trumpets. for example, joe henderson's relaxed tenor sounded a bit like tina brooks' (a little honky with a typical bump around 700hz). kenny dorham's delicate and airy trumpet had too much brassy punch of freddie hubbard.
the similar characteristics were found in reproducing strings: pierre fournie sounded like janos stalker (with some exaggeration of course, but you get my drift).
as much as i liked the satori and enjoyed the excellent euphonic qualities, i just couldn't get over what i would describe as a "sacrifice of reality for the sake of audiophilia".
the q-10's sounded relatively bland at first, but the "breathiness" of the horns and the nervous bow noise over strings with (sometimes annoying) rosin friction were immediately restored, right out of the box.
this is not necessarily a pretty sound, but closer to the real instrumental sound. (fwiw, my wife is a violinist and i am a jazz musician. that's our full-time gig).
however, q-10 didn't quite get the piano as well as satori's, in terms of the complex percussive attacks and the depth of overtones.
on the other hand, q-10 bested satori on reproducing nylon and steel string guitars; better string to body balance. satori was a bit too "stringy" with acoustic guitars.
i ended up with q-10's despite (or because of) the general lack of sophistication (read: euphonic coloration, in both positive and negative senses) and "blandness"(neutrality, if you wiil).
throw the bang-for-the-buck factor, and it was a relatively easy choice for me with the given system and my musical/sonic preferences.
i have been enjoying the q-10 ever since and have not been looking for another speaker cable yet.
hope this helps a bit, but as they say your mileage may vary.
