Dave, thanks for the explanation and clarification. Although current your site does say Neutral up front, which is what caught my attention, I'm not surprised to hear that there is a degree of warmth in at least some of your cables.
I returned to audio about 10 years ago and during that time I've noticed that the tonal emphasis among many developers has moved from producing some degree of warmth to neutral/high resolution focus (the latter two seem to invariably go together, at least in the relatively lower end of pricing). I'm not sure if that's been the result of customer demand, technology driven or just a vacuum in the high end market for a certain kind of sound. Probably a combination, given the market's growth and the variety of ears. The usual arguments against warmth are about sameness and that it hides or rolls off things. However, sameness I've heard across the tonal spectrum, and warmth, well, I think if one sees it as a continuum -- cool - neutral - warm -- there's room to find a great mix of warmth and resolution, as some developers have.
My priorities are, in order:
- Tone -- lightly warm
- Pitch -- I'm sensitive to raised pitch (player pianoish in the extreme; pitch-lowered is rare)
- Staging and focus
- Resolution