I want to share my recent experience with different speaker cables in my system. My comments must be taken in the context of my system/room and my preferences. I'm not saying cable X is better than cable Y. I'm simply describing what I heard in my system. In the past two weeks I've been able to compare Nordost Odin 1, Audience Frontrow, and Shunyata Alpha v2 speakers cables to Clarus Crimson in my system.
Nordost Odin 1- My initial thoughts were wow...great detail across the audio spectrum. The next day I listened for a couple of hours and I felt fatigued, what I initially loved ended up being too much of a good thing in my system.
Audience FrontRow - Had the best 3-dimensional soundstage of all of the cables. Lead singers were pushed in front of my speakers, which gave the illusion of a deeper soundstage. Ultimately everything sounded too mellow and bass articulation was soft compared to the other cables. My wife described the FrontRows as mellow/boring.
Shunyata Alpha v2- They are much better than I remember the Alpha and Sigma series 1 being. Comparing them to the Crimsons were more about trade-offs. Soundstage width and detail was equal across the audio spectrum. My wife thought the Alpha's portrayed voices slightly more naturally, but at the same time said, " voices sound more live with the Crimsons". The most significant difference was the Crimsons produced deeper and more articulate bass.
Please note I'm not talking night and day differences. I am talking about differences that are easily heard when changing cables.
