DNM Stereo speaker cables-experiences?

Mapman, yes, I take your point about coherence....the DNM sound has a gestalt about it that is pleasing. And I too experience the 'leanness', which gives the impression of clarifying the instrumental/voice parts, so I appreciate the same qualities that you do.

My Monocles sound like they turn the color up to 'vivid' rather than 'natural', and their bass certainly goes deeper. Is vivid better than natural....I don't know yet! The term you use, 'Overall musical enjoyment' is the benchmark, rather than dissecting out individual tonal qualities as a way to measure 'good'.

Gnobber, thanks for your input, especially about the bass on DNM cabling. My Stirling V2 LS3/5a speakers are 'shoebox' sized, thus bass limited. However, with the right components, the bass can be really surprisingly punchy and well-shaped. So far, the DNM speaker cables don't allow access to that arena of possibility, so I definitely lost a bit of potential nice bass quality. That's why I asked about break-in, hoping it might magically appear at some point. I think you are right....you probably need to have plenty of bass energy from your speakers in the first place, to make the trade-off worthwhile. Synergy, synergy.

It's a couple of weeks down the road, and I've done extended listening with DNM stereo speaker cables versus high end stranded cables.

I must say overall I prefer the sound of the DNMs. My initial thoughts were that something was lost in terms of frequency extremes and dynamics with DNM. That sounds correct when comparing to Kimber Monocles. However the musical and timbral attributes of the DNM are impossible to deny and these factors ended up being much more compelling to me.

The DNMs have a smooth coherent liquidity and are less fierce in both the bass and treble compared to the Monocles. The Monocles open a wider window in purely frequency response terms, are more exciting, but the DNMs offer me a smooth texture and soundstage evenness and a particular timbre that I keep coming back to. When they are in my system I stop listening to cables and just want to listen to the music, particularly classical music and jazz. I think the preferences are a lot to do with synergy and personal taste and one's expectations of what good hifi should offer. Or, maybe I'm getting old.....