Same here
I guess I am behind you in line since I just placed my order with Donald about a week ago. It was very kind of Donald to bring his equipment to San Diego for me to audition the Stratus early this month when I was on a business trip there.
Did you guys notice big differences between the SE output and the xlr balanced output(s) of the Stratus? I was only able to audition the Stratus through the dual 3-pin xlr output. I've actually been pretty satisfied with the stock cable of my HD800. Therefore, if there is no noticeable difference between balanced and unbalanced drive on the Stratus, I will stick with the stock cable. However, if HD800 does sound better balanced, which replacement cable would you recommend?
I once tried a Labkable pure copper cable, which did make HD800 sound fuller. However, it made the bass a bit muddier. I ended up preferring the stock cable. I overall care more about bass quality than quantity. I like detailed presentation, tight bass, and am not crazy about "taming the trebles" (partially because the Stratus should be able to do that for me already with either Shuguang or Sophia Princess 2a3 tubes). When Donald demo the Stratus (with the Shuguang 2a3 tubes) to me, I found pianos sounded a litter bit muddier and less bright than what they should sound in real world. (I've played the piano myself for years, so am familiar with piano sound.) Due to these reasons, I am leaning towards either a pure silver cable, a silver plated copper (SPC) cable like the stock one, or even a re-terminated stock cable
against pure copper cables. Has anyone tried connecting the HD800 and the Stratus with a pure silver cable, such as the Silver Dragon v3?
I am also curious about those 99% silver 1% gold cables. Injecting gold to silver does not make much sense to me because gold is an inferior conductor than silver. Yet, still, I'm curious to know what they would make a HD800 sound like, particularly on the Stratus.