Cable Upgrade: Too much transparency

It's possible that what you're hearing is distortion caused by stacking of low quality materials in the product, e.g., PSC wire, polyethylene primary dielectric, etc. I wouldn't have these in my system.

If you can't live with the sound, recommend you switch to a cable made of OCC copper wire (not OFC), FEP Teflon dielectric and copper (not brass) plugs. There also is OCC silver wire, but it's brighter, and probably not for you.

Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference II is a good cable, IMHO. Beware of AZ fakes being sold as 'demo' on some audio websites. Also, if located in Europe or Canada, look for Atlas Cables, e.g., Titan which is similar to the Acoustic Zen Matrix Reference II.

the issue seems to be one of spectral balance. either there is a thinness, or perhaps an emphasis upon the treble frequencies.

it is possible that some other component(s) in the system is causing this.

you should listen to other cables, or try to recall the sound of your stereo system when you were using the cables which were replaced by the audioquest.

if you are confident that it is the cables, you have the answer.

it has been suggested that distortion may be reponsible for what you are hearing. perhaps, wire impurity, and or dielectric problems. could also be the connectors.

I agree with Mr. Tennis. The particular cable combination may be revealing a bright system component.