Inter Connects - What I know and don't know

@Newbee

I am referring to XLR cables, although one could extrapolate these criteria to apply to a number of cables, AC, RCA, speaker, etc. 

I would toss assumption A out when it comes to cables. You can find high value cables that can best high cost cables through auditioning process. 

As for the other assumptions it is equipment and room dependent. 

Start the audition process with something uber expensive to set the bar. You can then compare everything else to find value.

In general, more expensive cables sound better. Each company has a number of factors they feel  critical in achieving great sound. They use them. Only in the case of low quality wires will you find a good correlation between the parameters you listed. 
 

‘’High end cables use so many different combinations of materials, geometries and shielding you just can’t draw strong correlation. See Cardas cable site. They have great diagrams that show their approach.

But then there is the other problem. You have a unique system… any given… sets of three say $1K cables… they are likely to sound very different. I have had a set of $7K interconnects of a highly respected brand that sounded terrible between two particular components… when their othe cables sounded great. You must try them.

Finally there is your desired sound. The same set of interconnects in the same system may sound better to you and worse to the guy next to you. You like warm and natural and he likes detailed and flashy sound. So, you have to try them.

Also, you need to know exactly what your system sounds like before you go looking for interconnects. Everything needs to be broken in and you need a lot of listening time so you know how to make good comparisons and know when you found what you were looking for.

Finally the rule of thumb is to invest about 10 - 15% the value of your system in interconnects, cables, and power cords. I have never followed this rule, but over fifty years alway end up in that bracket when I have finished an upgrade cycle.

Rules of Thumb are great... And there’s no no substitute for demoing gear. But if there are some objective shortcuts based on science (psychoacoustics) that we might all benefit from, well that’s what I’m leaning into here.

The criteria in the initial post, I had hoped would help highlight some areas where differences are beyond subjective. Perhaps they’re a little too broad. While absolutes are hard to come by, certain other criteria should be fairly easy to measure/experience.

For example (2) cables with the exact connectors, the same, length, with the same shielding, braiding, etc. but different gauges. Shouldn’t the thicker gauge produce a better sound in the majority of systems? Many manufacturer’s have this exact set up, and we’re simply selecting one gauge/price over another based on our budget. I would think at some point the differences become negligible, say between 12 gauge and 10 gauge (again on the majority of systems). At what point can most humans differentiate between the two (say 18 to 16, 18 to 12...)? Knowing this we might all be able to save a little money and spend it elsewhere in our rig.

OP I would reach out to Ralph for his opinion on an IC to use with his amplifier. What say you @atmasphere ?

Rather than hear opinions from people who are not using the same components in their audio chain.