What cable companies make the best cables and sell them directly?

What defines the best cable? To me it's the best sounding cable for the application. 

Unfortunately, it depends. The cables you want are going to complement your system and move it in a direction that is positive for you. Which depends on your values in sound… as well as your system taken as a whole.

Finding these typically requires trying them out. Cardas are a tad warm and enhance most systems. Transparent are that. DHLabs has really good budget cables. The Cable company allows you to rent different kinds to try them.

Half price is typical for used.

Trying several kinds is probably most important.

Signal Cable.

Silnote Audio & Audio Art Cable sell direct.

Silversmith Audio: their Fidelium Speaker Cables can be added to the list.

Audio Envy, Morrow Audio are two that I've been interested along with the Silversmith. They  have good reputations signal cable too. Anyone remember Homegrown Cables or Pure Note?

Buy used has been mentioned...and guarantee wont pay markup.I did buy some Audio envy and for what i payed they sound really,really good.Captain has my admiration after making my own for couple years and really seeing that/diy side of cables. 

Zavfino is really good, same with Audio Envy, Anti-Cables, EWA Cables, Audio Art, Silnote. Hard to go wrong with any of those brands

Analysis Plus has an online Home-Audio-Store now.  

Most authorized dealers charge the same or better and it can be an option to buy from one of them, or if they are local to you maybe you can try them out on demo.  This is how I tried Oval, Copper Oval-In Micro, then Crystal (OCC) and ended up with the Crystals for my streamer to DAC, sources to preamp, and to mono amps. Some like the top of the line Silver Apex too, all nice cables depending on your price range.  Some times they pop up used at some savings and people look for them.  

It would help if you listed your system, IMO.

This is the last setup you posted in a thread...

Denefrips Terminator DAC
Marantz AV7703 Pre Tuner
Martin Logan Expression ESL 13A Electrostatic Speakers
Pass Labs 260.8 Mono Amplifiers
PS Audio BHK PreAmplifier
Sony Blu Ray UBP-X800 CD/Blu Ray Player
SVS PB 16-Ultra Subwoofer

I'm not familiar with any of your gear (or your tastes/wants) so no rec's.

DeKay
 

@firstonetallguy   you’ve got a nice system. I’ve also got a Denafrips DAC (Terminator Plus) and Pass amps (XA60.8s). I’d recommend checking out Iconoclast cables. They sell direct and have a 30 day home trial period. 

I’ve been using Silnote Audio for all of my interconnects and power cables for years. I only have their entry level offerings and I am very happy with them. All of the descriptive reviews they have posted on their website I find to be accurate. They don’t offer Toslink though. For that interconnect for my cd transport I purchased a Wireworld Supernova 7. It’s also an excellent interconnect. Silnote Audio has great customer service in Roanoke to answer all of your questions and purchases are no risk if you don’t like them. Give them a try. You won’t regret it. You can check out my Virtual System for reference. FYI, I’ll be driving out to pick up my fully upgraded/restored Apogees from Music Technology in VA soon. I’ll update my Virtual System soon after (and when the new ribbons and crossovers are fully broken in). I’ll add they are also the reference speaker cable company for Magnepan.

Wywires sells directly too. That's what I use along with Purist Audio.

the best, oh yes, the best

what is the best? someone please tell me, make life simple for me, i can then just plop down the money and have the best  🙄

sorry but i couldn't resist... carry on...

BLUE JEANS CABLE may offer products that satisfy your request.

Good luck in your pursuit.

+1 on the Blue Jeans, I had their RCA's and they were better then no-name-starter cables, but in a personal opinion, I would say they are middle-of-the-road quality and you will probably end up upgrading again.

It’s hard to believe that the same basic thread pops up just about every week even though there’s no useful answer anyone can give. The op needs to try things in his system.

Triode Wire Labs is another you could look at.

I do like blue jeans 10 gauge speaker cable with locking banana plugs. Very good quality and very good at transferring current from amplifier.

Agreed with the vote for Signal Cable. 

Hi,

Without any doubt Triode Wire Labs cables. The lesson I've learnt after buying them is that people in most cases don't need a new amplifiers or new speakers, just a good power cord or good cables.

For the Dac the "Digital American" is highly praised, I'll get one soon.

At the moment I own "American cable" which is for speakers. It totally changed the dynamic adding a lot of energy, engagement and a very meaty sound.

Then I bought the interconnects and power cord "Seven Plus" for the amp and it outperformed anything I tried before. The bass is totally different, more defined, natural and deep. It felt like I bought a new amplifier indeed!

Plus Pete is a joy to deal with:)

There is no such thing as best cable, each one sounds a bit different  do to its design build all depends what your looking formy warmth depth ,detail ?

andbiggest factor what is your budget in todays world $5 k for speaker cables 

is not even close to most expensive . Myself feel for under $2k you should’ve able 

to get a 2 m pair     I Find the Wireworld Eclipse give very good value ,

Might give these guys a shout:

I've had good luck with Morrow.  Replaced Purist Audio Design speaker cables with their SP4's (better sound and markedly more flexible for routing purposes); recently added a 26' interconnect to put my headphone amp back in the main system for daily use.  Not cheap, but relatively affordable with their frequent discounts.

I would email [email protected]. I have bought cables from HaveInc before at a very fair price. Good luck

Belden / BAV / Iconoclast.

Great people to work with and everything is hand assembled in the USA and comes with an individual test report. Also have 30 day return policy.

https://www.iconoclastcable.com/bav/index.htm

Just curious,

Why hasn’t anyone mentioned Audioquest cables?

Would seem there’s more than one company making cables…Lol. Which leads one to believe it’s a complete waste of time as there all the newest and best ever. Boring waste of time thread again.

With the quality of gear you have, you're definitely going to benefit from high quality cables.  Blue Jeans are a very good value but not anything you'd want to to match up with the extremely high quality amp and preamp you have.

Try to get a bunch of cables from different companies on approval and compare them.  It's all about synergy.  They'll all sound different but only you can judge "best."

I ended up with silver cables from Gryphon, but they don't sell direct.  Audioquest has great cables IMO but their direct price is the same as the dealer price.

I would definitely include Silversmith in the mix based on the comments here over the last couple of years coming from guys with very expensive amps.

Requisite Audio

I got a silver Digital coax SFDIF from them and I was pleasantly surprised. 

Very reasonably priced. 

Found these guys. Audio Sensibility.

Zenwavesudio too

Both direct and easy to deal with

And there’s Morrow Audio too. 

Check out Audiomica cables, I came from Purist and Cardas Beyond and now a full loom of Audiomica and couldn't be happier. I didn't pay retail bought from importer at good discount. Do some research on Audiomica lots of reviews but not much talk.

Have had great experience with Audio Sensibility if you’re up for comparing some cryo stuff, he’s made a number of special request cables for me over the years and is great to deal with. Also does trade ups. 

https://audiosensibility.com/blog/

Check out Darwin cables. They do what cables should: get out of the way and impose as little of their own character on the signal. I use them for my ICs and SCs. Vendors at audio shows use their cables to show off their stereo gear. I’ve worked my way up their line and with each step, it got better.

They have some of, if not the lowest capacitance around. They are fast, articulate, tight and textured with no smearing or homogenizing of the sound. They also employ four different stereo set ups to ensure across the board performance that doesn't favor any particular type of gear.

Check out their Specials section to see what discounts you can get to get a taste. Tony and Bill are great to deal with and if you like, just talk shop.

All the best,
Nonoise

Is it pointless to discuss the technology of these recommended brands? I hear people saying how they all sound different which would lead one to believe that there are MANY different technologies involved here that would affect the sound profoundly. What say you, or are there just not that many ways of combining wire within a shield? 

There is only one completely different technology in audio cables available (or any other type of cable, for that matter), that is truly, definitely, scientifically different and separate from all the rest.

Call Jim from wisdom cable , he is the designer and owner super knowledgeable,He own pass lab too. I bet He save you money , and you can ask him , He will guide you to your needs, His Cables are high quality .

Jim gives nice discounts.I like audio envy cables as well, but I prefer wisdom cable because they are quiet and flesh out  the music. Very natural sounding...He sells DIRECT.

I upgrade my speaker wires, power cords for both my ARCAM and my Bluesound and also upgraded my digital cables.  I was fortunate to use The Cable Company.  I worked with Jason Ressler and he is by far the most knowledge people I have worked for.  He understands everything involving audio.  He should be teaching.  He is also one of the nicest people I have every worked with.

https://triodewirelabs.com/

The best? Who knows as it’s very taste/system dependent, and then there’s budget that I don’t think you specified. Good news is pretty much all have generous trial periods, so read reviews and have at it! Cullen makes very good and reasonably-priced cables as does Audio Envy, Triode Wire Labs, Darwin, and Zavfino among others. One that flies under the radar and if you’re into silver cables is LavriCable — I’ve got a few of their cables and they’re great with both excellent transparency and musicality, which is a tough act to pull off. Best of luck.

Thank you to all who have responded.  I had no idea there were so many cable companies that could fulfill my needs.  I will follow up on every suggestion and make up my mind based on the information contained on the cable company's website and your suggestions and advice.

Again I truly appreciate all this wonderful and speedy help.

"I will follow up on every suggestion and make up my mind based on the information contained on the cable company's website and your suggestions and advice."

That should take you a couple of years...if you're retired that is.

OP,

I do have another recommendation. Do NOT make a decision based on the information on the manufacturer’s web site. I am not saying it is wrong… it is just not helpful in decision making. If it tells you all about their technology… it just doesn’t matter. It is what it sounds like in your system, with your components in your audio room.

I recommend reading reviews… from legitimate sources, Stereophile, The Absolute Sound, and HiFi+. Also, listen to some and see what they do in your system and compare with reviews. If your system is very modest… great interconnects may do nothing, if it is intermediate or high end it could be jaw dropping. I have spent hundreds of hours evaluating for my systems. I recently tried out a $7K cable from a very high end company… it sounded terrible… this is very uncommon, but can happen.

If your system is already leaning to be too detailed and trebly… a really good clear set of interconnects can tip it over it over into the fatiguing side. While warm ones would provide a heftier mare natural sound. Generally copper is warm, silver coated copper is warm with added details and silver is very detailed but can be harsh. But the design of a good cable can override the underlying material.

I reached a point of needing power cables and the problem I have with many of the manufacturers is that they are like Baskin Robbins... WAY too many flavors. Talk about a major turn off. Do any of you non-shill, non-dealer, actual consumers like this? It's one of the many reasons I love Silversmith Audio. One speaker cable. We did our best and here it is. Love it. You do not have to wonder which cable you can afford among a ladder lineup and left wondering what the more expensive models give you that your money did not. No thank you. I wish Silversmith had a power cable. 

I've been looking at the recommendations here and I'm very interested in Anitcables because they only have two power cable offerings. So far the others have too many for my liking. Others look promising until you have to choose between a standard connector and again, more flavors. Yay! I think one of them reads "audiophile connector" and it's like $80 more lol. Hard pass! I cannot believe this works for other consumers. It's certainly not for me. 

@firstonetallguy I hope your cable journey goes well. Please let us know what you end up with?

@firstonetallguy 

I've recently upgraded Dac, added a streamer, modded network switches.

I'm going to buy some Triode Wire Labs 'Freedom' ethernet cables.

Another recommendation for Triode Wire Labs.Handmade to order by Pete in Massapequa Park, NY. Excellent quality, sound great & reasonably priced. 

My vote is Anti-Cables speaker wires .. they blew away way more expensive cables I had like Audience AU24, and the 3.1’s only cost like $300 or so. I’ve never tried their interconnects. I use Acoustic Zen Absolute RCA's which are amazing but pricey.

The AntiCables are so inexpensive to buy direct just to even try them, and I think they have a 30 day no questions asked return policy which you won’t need

@1971gto455ho Move along then.  Go hang with the Neanderthals at Audioholics. 

  Would seem there’s more than one company making cables…Lol. Which leads one to believe it’s a complete waste of time as there all the newest and best ever. Boring waste of time thread again.