Do Costly XLR Cables Make A Difference?


Serious question here. I currently own a rather good XLR cable that goes between the amp and DAC. I’m considering a better XLR cable to improve things, basically all the good aspects of sound reproduction such as deeper and more defined bass, better separation and detail across the frequency spectrum and an airier and more 3-dimensional sound in the midrange and treble. Will a different XLR cable supposedly one that’s costlier bring me to that direction?

My current XLR cable costs about $2k actual price paid.

I’m looking at an alternative pair up to about $2k perhaps $3k tops if it is proven that the cable is able to bring a noticeable or worthwhile if not significant difference. I am actually looking at the Wireworld Silver Eclipse 8 and Gold Eclipse 8 XLR.

Any experience would be appreciated. 

 

ryder

I didn’t really compare many XLR cables, but I did go from RCA to higher quality/price balanced within Audioquest’s lineup and that was an improvement. I also did the same with Shunyata power cables. I purchased with sixty day trials and just paid return shipping for full refund on what I didn’t want. This included an $11K cartridge that I was unable to send back because it was so very good. That said, they would have taken it back with no questions asked. So, the real question is whether it is worth the time and the return shipping costs. For me, it was worth the extra effort. I should mention that I worked with someone that provided good advice and even talked me out of some purchases that he thought were not worth the extra money. His biggest contribution was convincing me to spend a good bit of money on the power side of things. The improvements that resulted were eye opening. Of course, that brings up the question as to where you could spend money to get the greatest improvement.  For me this was power conditioner and power cords.

@ryder 

Maybe is the only answer. Sadly there are a whole lot of “salesman” out there and prices are not necessarily a measure of value in cables.  See what the Cable Company has that you might want to try.

All the best.

audioquest Dragon XLR might be worth considering.

audioquest Dragon XLR

Overview

Not only is Dragon the best interconnect audioquest has ever made, it’s quite possibly the best the world has ever seen or heard.

With its ultimate combination of world-class materials and cutting-edge Noise-Dissipation technologies, Dragon comes as close as presently possible to AudioQuest’s sonic ideal — completely invisible cable. It features Solid Perfect-Surface Silver (PSS) conductors, ZERO-Tech, FEP Air-Tube insulation, Silver-Plated RF-Draining Barrels, and Level-7 Noise-Dissipation in which even the shield-drains are 100% PSS.

 

What you failed to mention which is far more important to the end result is What dac are you using ? I would hope at least $5k+  if you are willing to spend $2-3k on interconnects ,much much more important to say buy the latest Best Buy 

Holosprings May KTE dac, or Denafrips terminator2  or + mordel 12 th anniversary.