High Quality XLR IC's For My System


The last step of my year long upgrade process is complete except for the two 1m XLR IC’s I use to connect my phono preamp to my preamp and my SACD player to my preamp. Using Audioquest Californias now.



I am simply looking to upgrade the XLR IC’s. Budget is $1200

I would prefer to buy used but not necessarily; Thanks in advance for your suggestions.






teeshot
@teeshot, 

You’re certainly entitled to your opinion. AE cables comes with 45 days in-home audition guarantee. As far transparency goes, they fit the criteria. If you prefer to pay more for name brand cables, well that’s your prerogative. 

From my experience, cables on used market regardless of the brand aren’t worth more than 40% to 50% off full retail.  
Another AudioEnvy user here and couldn’t be happier with them. 
I’ve never owned super high end cables but have used the likes of Kimber 8tc, Groneberg, Duelund and Cerious Tecnologies Matrix and find AudioEnvy to be the most satisfying to my ears. Very transparent and neutral. They seemingly get out of the way and allow the music to take the stage. 
FWIW I’m using AE power cords, RCA interconnects and speaker cables throughout my system. 
Tvad— look up Clarus, a lot of positive reviews.  Agree that they are not on the scale of AQ or Wireworld. Available used in my price range.  Prices steady last few years— plus I have a set of their Aqua speaker cables for a second system which I like a lot. Inakustik is a German company that sells a lot of cables in Europe. I saw them at AXPONA. From my research they seem to hold value in a reasonable manner.  I cannot say the same for the three small companies whose cables I have used previously in the name of saving money.  I won’t name names because others may love theirs. We each have unique experiences— TS
@lalitk  ... No, I haven't tried the power cords, but intend to do so at some point.

@teeshot ... AE got me off of the expensive cable merry-go-round, so resale is not an issue for me. In fact, with a 45 day trial period, there's really no down side as you should be able to determine whether they're right for you. Clarus and Inakustik are boutique brands which likely would be hard to resell if you were so inclined. As was mentioned here previously, most any brand of cable is going to resell at about 40-50% of retail, so I don't think resale should be a factor in deciding whether to at least try the AE cables. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with them.
May be you should try The JPS Labs Superconductor 3 I have for sale on Agon. I think they have everything you are looking for.