I ordered a HatPin 4x DIN to XLR and HatPin 5 last year to upgrade the grey stock ones for my 72/HC/CB250.
Initial thoughts (over a couple of listening sessions) were very positive - the sound was definitely clearer and less congested, like that layer of dirt I never knew was there had been removed.
Over a week or so I began to notice more sibilance and a more pronounced/harsh top-end. I wasn't enjoying this upgrade that much anymore, some albums became quite fatiguing (Lust for Life and A Love Supreme in particular). I put the stock cables back on and felt I could relax but at the cost of obvious distortion (perhaps even compression for want of a better word), I saw how good the Witch Hat cables were but thought them not quite right in my system.
Then it hit me! My cart had been in heavy use for 4 years! Perhaps the Witch Hat upgrade was exposing this. I replaced my cart and really enjoyed my system again (with the stock cables). After a few months I had my RB300 rewired and spent a good 6 months enjoying that upgrade. Time for the Witch Hat cables again!
Swapped out the stock snaic+xlr cables for the Witches and immediately noticed the difference - no distortion and instruments were nicely separated and easy to follow. I had some of those "wow, that's what she said" moments! Definitely an improvement for me.
As a bonus they look great, the HatPin is non-directional (I don't know why the originals are) and they don't rob the system of any slam, groove or excitement (isn't there an acronym for what I mean here?).
They're keepers