I'm puzzled - if you haven't hooked them up yet does "way sweet" just mean they look nice?
When you do hook them up, give us a report on any improvement in the sound of your system, besides the 3-db level increase. I was using a pair with nOrh monoblocks from Thailand and was very pleased with the sound until one of the amps gave out over a year ago (still waiting for repairs but I'd better not get started on that!). My old reliable Adcom GFA535 doesn't have balanced inputs, and the Yaqin tube buffer that's now between the 990 and the amp (and giving the sound a lovely tube flavor) doesn't have them either, so I'm not in the balanced cable business any more. Anyone want to reimburse me for the postage on a pair of 1-meter balanced cables?