Bumping this back up....I ended up grabbing a pair of X-1's from Ori. After only about 6-7 hours of listening time, I can EASILY say that these surpass all other cables I have, and (based on memory) many more I've had in the past!
I have the Grover UR (ver 2 I believe), VenHaus Pulsar Cryo'd, Straley, Silent Audio Apollo-A, and - up until recently - my reference, the Tritium Ultra High Velocity (UHV) Gold's. And beyond that, I've own Nordost Quatro Fil, Red Dawn, Blue Heaven; Ensemble Dynaflux; Zu Varial (sp?); and several others costing MUCH more than the X-1's $200.
I'll probably post an even more detailed follow-up later, but I have to say that transparency, soundstage, and dyanmics are just amazing with these. I started to pick apart the sound, seeing what they did well, especially compared to my other IC's. But ultimately, it's about letting more of the music through seemingly audibly untouched.
There is a sense of being there, of being live, with these cables. I've listened mostly on my speakers, but have put a little time in on my Dynahi with Sony SA-5K's and Grado SR-325's.
Lastly, I just want to mention that Ori is one of the most amazing gentlemen I have dealt with. Honest, funny, smart, and definitely NOT a snake oil salesman! He is very intent on providing truly great sound at a reasonable price!
My S-1 speaker cables were just ordered
and I'll be selling some things off, to try the X-2 IC's next!