I've used Canare 4E6S "Star Quad" Balanced Cable  for Years.  Love it!

Excellent Electrical Specifications, with very low Shunt Capacitance.    It is NOT a Tone Control for Bright Speakers.  EQ, or Room Treatment are a more appropriate means of remedying that.

www.CS1.net

Well, if you are really into that, I recommend reading this https://www.aktives-hoeren.de/viewtopic … mp;t=9630. It's in german, but Google Translate should do it for you.

Absolutely Priceless Knatterton! 

Thanks for sharing that Jewel! 

Magnus,

with all due respect, your previous posts gave me a different impression.

Get yourself enough length of Sommer/Klotz no non-sense cable (if you are in Europe) with solid connectors (Neutrik, Amphenol) and forget about it.

Ethan has his own thing going on with physically light minded die hard cork sniffers, so take it with a grain of salt. However, he basically describes the whole idea of symmetric connections that allows to eliminate external interferences in the receiver. Lets face it: Any waveform is described by its frequency and amplitude. A cable cannot improve clarity or add details to a signal (your words). This would require that the cable is capable of decoding and interpreting the signal. How could that possibly happen? In fact I would consider a cable to be broken if it would colorize my signal.

I just read your last post again and saw that we're on the same page: Sound is an individual perception and can't be measured universally but only be appraised. Here we are talking about purposeful alteration/improvements that are applied to any kind of signal sent through the same conductor. The whole discussion is fruitless, lets end this here.

Ich bin mit diesem hier sehr zufrieden, steckt bei mir zwischen ADI-2 DAC und Accuphase E-600:
https://www.thomann.de/de/cordial_cpm_15_fm_flex.htm

Vielleicht sollte ich dem noch hinzufügen, dass ich als Lautsprecherkabel für die B&W 803D3
auch nur ganz normales Kupferkabel mit Bananas verwende, 1.5 oder 2m mit 4mm Querschnitt.
Nach 1 Monat einhören habe ich mir nochmal spasseshalber einen Satz Kabel für €1500 geben
lassen und habe da nichts an Unterschied wahrgenommen, was eine solche Ausgabe gerechtfertigt hätte.
Das ist Geld, das man am besten direkt in bessere Lautsprecher oder Verstärker steckt, da ist es mE besser aufgehoben.

Sommer Cable ist auch sehr gut, aber ich habe es mir aus diesen gemachten Erfahrungen gespart.
Ein normal gutes Kabel mit guter Abschirmung tut es auch.
Und beim A/B Test in der Zuspielung über ADI-2 DAC zu einer rein digitalen Anbindung an das interne
DAC-40 Modul des Verstärkers ergab sich für mich ein ganz leichtes plus für den ADI-2 DAC.
Also hat sich für mich dieses Kabel im Praxistest bewährt.

Just one more from Floyd Toole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrpUDuUtxPM

I take issues with Floyd Toole.  Science is not black and white facts.  Science is the sum total of data collected by humans using the best data-gathering technology they can, plus the interpretation of that data with all the subjective bias that society instills in them.  Anyone who states science is black or white is promoting scientism, which is akin to a religion.  Read Popper, Kuhn and Kant.  And trust your own ears.  If a cable sounds better to you, that’s all that matters.  It may be a psychoacoustic effect, but that’s as valid as a measurable acoustic effect if it’s making a positive contribution to your music in your system.

Oh and for the record I use DIY Van Damme cables with Neutrik connectors

Good idea.  My music often sounds worse when I’m tired and stressed after work.

Good whiskey is the less healthy alternative.

More fun to let them listen and than say its a €3 cable (provided it sounds good that is) :-)

I personally went with Mogami Studio Gold based upon the recommendations of studio musicians that I know, Canare Star Quad was also recommended. No complaints here. I got 10 footers, and I almost wish I had gotten 15 so I could bring the DAC to my listening position for A/B-ing and headphone use, I guess I could make profiles with just 1 factor changed, but that is a little less conducive to quick changes.

Here is a followup on my experience with XLR cables: first I used the XLR cable that came with the amplifier (van damm cable with switchcraft plugs), then I ordered and tried the Canare 4E6S "Star Quad" Balanced Cable with Neutrik NC3FXX-B plugs. I liked this one better than the van damm cable that came with the amp.

Then the upgrade-devil came sneaking, but the problem is that I spent so much lately that my wife will turn into a nun if I spend more. So instead I thought I should try my old RCA cable (Anticables interconnect 3.2) so I soldered a pair of XLR plugs onto it (connected 1+3 to shield and 2 to +). And now I am sure you will all scream "placebo" and "no controlled blind test", but they do sound better. And by a big margin at that, despite that they are unbalanced (not that I think that matters much for 1 meter cable in home environment).

The biggest change is that the treble is not edgy anymore, for example with old cables I preferred NOS filter now I prefer the default SD-sharp. And even with the NOS filter the treble sounded unruly with the Canare cable. But also wider soundstage, better stereo placement of instrument and an overall more pleasant tonality.

I have different words in mind when it comes to ignoring the manual. Chapter 19.3 has a big exclamation mark so one can't overlook the important information.

Haha MC, you made me curious so I looked it up

Spoiler:
The XLR line outputs do not operate servo balanced! When connecting unbalanced equip-ment,  make  sure  pin  3  of  the  XLR  output  is  not  connected.  A  connection  to  ground  might  cause a decreased THD (higher distortion) and increased power consumption!

And yes there is a very big exclamation mark before this text.

So I am afraid that what you call better by a margin, is in fact more distortion...which is not unexpected as we like distortion.

Ah ok oops,
my bad.
Cheers

Magnus,

As the Purpose of this Forum is to assist others with Constructive Inputs/Suggestions, let me throw my Hat in the Ring...

"Unruly Trebles" with Proper, Industry Standard Cabling seems indicative of either a Defective Component, or more likely, defective Room Acoustic behavior.

Might I suggest that you STOP with Cabling, and find the source of your Woes. 

(Hint: It's not Cables)

A detailed, Room Acoustic asessment would likely reveal much.   Subsequently, a few well-placed Acoustic Treatments could work Miracles for You.   Pro-Audio has known this for Decades, and a Wise-Man would borrow from that Pool of Experience.

Take a look at this:

https://www.gikacoustics.com/room-eq-wizard-tutorial/

Good Stuff!

Did I mention that R.E.W. is a Free Sftwr download?

Well Magnus,

Clearly You have all the Answers, so move along quietly, to your All-Knowing place.

Surely, there's a Cable Forum that would benefit immensely from your insights.

Sorry Friend.  We Tried.

Move on.

Funny you should mention that, because that's exactly the "motto" of Anticables (hence their names): to make cables that don't have any sound.

Cables never add sound quality, they only subtract, and in this case, and with my equipment and in my room, the cheaper Canare cable subtracted more than the RCA Anticables I had since before. Other system and ears might find other results.

However, I have a hard time accepting opinions based on speculations, like someone saying A sound better or equally good as B, without having tested B, especially when I myself have tested both A and B.

Besides, its hard to find more different cables than Canare and Anticables 3.2: one is quad format, other is single (very thin) wire, one is heavily isolated, other is not isolated, one is copper, the other is a silver/gold alloy. It would actually be strange if they sounded exactly the same.

If you read this you will be pretty ****don't know how to call it*** to claim you CAN here a difference.
Especially something like The highs being less edgy with the better cable.
If your own theory would be true, that cables have no sound but can substract, then the less edgy would be worse, since it took edge away.
I am not trying to argue, really! Thing is as an audio creator (musician, producer, technician etc), we create the things you are listening for (space edge pace etc etc) So we don't think it is something magical. A performance can be magical, a room can have certain quality, plugins too, hardware fx and most important Microphones and their placement.
If I would make a list of importance it would be something like>>>
Performer>>>instrument>>>Mic placement>>>Room>>>Mic and from here onvery  down hill >>>Mic preamp >>>Converter >>>working cables.
If you have special requirements like must be very noise free, you need a silent studio a low noise mic and a low noise preamp in that sequence again. The -100, -110, -120db  converter is of no consequence and yes if it is a long mic cable a properly shielded one.
Cheers!!!!
Oh and as a listener I would say...Your Mood>>>Level/volume>>>>Speakers>>>speaker placement/room, nothing more.

If the difference is not subtle something is wrong with one of them and maybe your amp. Current devices should not react to cables. Maybe vintage (tube devices) where impedance matters a lot could. Like some vintage mics respond to the impedance of the mic preamp.

Subtle might mean different things depending on who you ask, but the difference between the cables was easily heard. And nothing askew with my setup now, it was before though but fixed with a cable-swap :-)

My signal chain is: computer -> toslink -> RME ADI-2 DAC (battery powered) -> 2 * Nord One MKII mono amps -> Volent VL-2 Paragon speakers.