Hi Ian
Removing the banana sockets just made the whole experiwnce better. All of a sudden, all of the tracks on Dylans "Time Out of Mind" were intelligible, and made sense, not just track 7 (Not Dark Yet).
I have now done the same with my IC's.
One end is terminated in Eichmanns. The other end are directly soldered to the selector switch. All good.
I have not received any info on your audition of the cables. Did you PM me within Audiocircle, or send me an email?