DAC RCA vs DIY RCA using CAT 5 cable

[accord]

Hi every one, Need advise from you..

My stereo Chain is - Technics TT - Schiit Mani - Onkyo Receiver - Dali FS

I bought DAC ARA040 2RCA Interconnect Cable and compared it with my DIY stereo RCA connector using CAt 5 cable 12" Length, played few of my fev songs 2-3 times and here confusion starts -

With all flat tone settings-

DIY cable sounding sharp like i have increased High & mid gain to +4, Low to 0.
and dac cable is sounding as i have done some changes in tone setting - High & mid gain to -2, Low to 0.

Is my DIY cable is sounding more transparent to DAC cable or it is doing something wrong with sound output or DAC people saved their best output for their other high end cables?

Please suggest as i am really confused in this matter :sad: .

 

[Kannan]

To make an even more accurate analysis, run one channel from the DIY cable and other channel from the DAC cable.

Next play pink noise to check the difference, if pink noise is too hard to tolerate, then play any good and dynamic monoaural recording to get a clear sense of the difference between the cables