is it possible that the cable might be revealing some flaw in your system that other cables are covering up ?
Hello Mrtennis, I agree that such a thing can never be totally discarded however good a system might be but the probability of such a thing AFAIK with my system is very low AND I took around this cable to couple of other Audiophile's places who all have very well chosen gears. The result was similar. And again I would like to emphasize that the issue is not something very apparent in the initial listening sessions, it occurs to one (if at all) only after one lives with it for some time. Obviously once you know what is happening it becomes easier to "listen" to those flaws in other systems as well.
Let me go a step back. Many a times when we come across a "new" sound (due to a cable or an equipment change), we try to analyze it by breaking it into parts (bass, mid, treble, soundstage etc) because it makes it easier to analyze just one area at a time (Divide and conquer). Then, if some of the important areas sounds really amazing our respect for that component (in this case the cable) increases. Many a times, out of that respect we tend to give undue weightage to even the areas which "may" be sounding different but not amazing. Those are the areas which are the most difficult to understand in such scenarios. One is already clouded by the aura of the cable and now he has to say "No" to some of its aspects....possible if those aspects are really bothering else things take totally different turn, we rather try to believe that some of the not-so-amazing but new aspects is possibly the "right" sound and we need to get accustomed to it or some other favorable reason to accept what we are hearing. Many a times I have seen audiophiles are recommended to "Unlearn" to be able to appreciate the performance of a new component in the chain. And sometimes Audiophiles voluntarily try to unlearn because they "want" to appreciate a particular aspect of a component, may be it is the aura that component has created by the virtue of its performance in some other aspect or due to the image it carries or whatever.
My point is relatively simple. When "Realism" strikes, it strikes hard and it is instantly recognizable by our ears. If a cable sounds more real (due to lack of ringing or any such reason) it should not take a lot of time to judge it. If it is taking some time then we should be clearly aware that something about it is not correct which our ears have caught. One does not have to unlearn anything to appreciate realism.
For me Audio Magic cables did not sound real enough though I had to take some time to understand the "Why" of it.