Ray - I have done the comparison that you asked about (Purist AQ Anniversary vs Venustas)and here are my conclusions:
The Venustas gives a more "back of the hall" presentation than the Aq Anniv, which is more like being in the 5th row. The Venustas is a bit softer in transients throughout the music bandwidth, while the AQ Anniv is mellow in the midrange but has greater extensions at the frequency extremes. Neither cable suffers from brightness of any kind and both have very natural note decay. Both have great soundstaging when broken in - wide, tall, and deep. Both are excellent with ss as well as tube gear. The AQ Anniv is more prone to need to settle down for 3-4 hours after moving it than the Venustas, because of the combination Ferox/fluid. My preference with my system is/was the Aq Anniversary, but you certainly wouldn't regret going with either.
The Venustas gives a more "back of the hall" presentation than the Aq Anniv, which is more like being in the 5th row. The Venustas is a bit softer in transients throughout the music bandwidth, while the AQ Anniv is mellow in the midrange but has greater extensions at the frequency extremes. Neither cable suffers from brightness of any kind and both have very natural note decay. Both have great soundstaging when broken in - wide, tall, and deep. Both are excellent with ss as well as tube gear. The AQ Anniv is more prone to need to settle down for 3-4 hours after moving it than the Venustas, because of the combination Ferox/fluid. My preference with my system is/was the Aq Anniversary, but you certainly wouldn't regret going with either.