Warm, fullbodied, smooth, and transparent

Grover Huffman SX: warm, full-bodied, smooth, transparent -- as well as tonally accurate, detailed, and incredibly quiet. All for $200. Amazing. And they don't take nearly as long to burn in as some people say.

Seabreeze, What CD player do you have?

My advice: Don't spend a lot of money on a cable; but a new CD player instead, for instance, a used Rega Apollo.

Seabreeze, What ICs do you use now?

Pmboyd, to answer a couple of your questions,

Helping a brother inlaw, he just picked up over last weekend a Pass Aleph stereo amp,and he has a Cambridge 840cdp.

So he needs a IC to go from CDP to Amp. The CDP drives the amp.

Really no name generic IC at this time

Also working on power cords for both units, but I think I have that sorted out.

Nice equipment...its worth spending the time you are, in order to get him the right IC. Given the Pass being (i recall) fairly detailed, smooth as a class A amp, and (i am guessing) the Cambridge is fairly straightforward...you'll want a cable that maximizes the delivery of information thru to the Pass...and maintains a fairly natural tonality. For value for money and excellent results, you may wish to try the new Sablon Audio Panatella...see the reviews on Six Moons, Jeff Day, etc. At their price, they will easily compete with and many would say better my old Transparent Reference at a third the price.