there are some classic exchanges on audioasylum about cable burnin. I agree some of it is becoming accustomed to the sound, but I also buy the explanation that cable burnin is about the capacitance of the cable and build up of residual charge in the dialectric. I read some postings where someone did a blind test using cooked and new cables and they could tell a difference. YMMV
When you guys get ready to make interconnects, google for a cable recipe that uses packing tape and magnet wire. Basicly you just run two parallel strands of magnet wire sandwiched between two pieces of packing tape. They are super cheap, very easy to make and get really high praise from people who reported results. There is a version that uses silver wire if you are into that.
They are not shielded, so if you have alot of RFI you may not like them.