Best budget $300 Balanced IC Recommendation

I had a similar experience with Mogami XLR balanced cables being really shrill...a first, and not the case with my single ended Mogami Neglex din cable rewire of my Akito arm...that sounds great. I replaced the balanced Mogami with XLR AQ Diamondbacks that are very neutral in my system.

Stewart sounds like a great guy! Sorry to hear about his loss in sandy. A few other great guys, who make great cables are Paul at clear day cables (double shotgun speaker cables are excellent) and Frank at signal cable. I am currently using signal cable silver resolution xlr's and speaker silver resolution speaker cables. Great sounding cables at a very reasonable price. I'd like to add that I feel really good about buying products from a company that when I call or e-mail them, I talk directly to the owner of the company. Priceless!!

I have a couple of friends which bought Mogami cables. Both systems seemed to be lacking in mid range and mid bass. The cables seemed to extend the top end and low end with a missing middle and low middle. These were well broken in cables. My friends are changing them out looking for better sounding cables.

Stewart at SoundSilver, is an amazing guy. I had a problem with one of his cables. Intermittent connections. Even after Stewart lost his home and cars in Hurricane Sandy, he was a true gentleman. He told me to send my broken cables to his new address and he would fix them NO CHARGE. I boxed them up, and included a postage return box for Stewart to return my cables. Not only did I get my cables back, fixed perfectly. I also got a 10 dollar bill in the box, because Stewart didn't think I should have to pay for the shipping. It is Audiogon guys like this that keep this hobby great.

STEWART: You have amazing cables, and the business ethic that is first rate. Thank you SO MUCH.

E Adams
Mansfield, GA

Agree with THOLT on Soundsilver interconnects! Amazing value for what you get! Stewart is awesome to deal with as well.

If you want to spend more then i can also recommend the Pure Note Alluvion xlr`s.

But for great sound, build quality and superb value - you can`t go wrong with Soundsilver.

I will second the Pure Note Alluvion. It is exactly at the upper limit you refer (at least for now). I recently bought the balanced version to use between my W4S DAC2 and W4S ST-500. Still burning them (currently I am at about 150 hrs) but these are remarkably smooth yet have such an astonishing amount of internal detail. Look for comments at other forums too. The music beatifully floats between my Martin Logans with exceptional soundstage and absolutely no "silverish" sound or glare. At least in my setup you can nearly feel the limits of the recording room. My other balanced ic's are a Tara Labs Master Gen2 and a DH BL-1. For comparison the Tara (still use it in my Theta gear) is no slouch. It is smooth and very musical but not that resolving, the DH is also a very good cable to startup and might fit well in your system, but they didnt seem to have the inner resolution and smoothness of the Pure Note (of course they are made of different materials and at different price). Alluvion is highly recommended even if they were $600.

I can recommend the Soundsilver brand sold here on Audiogon. Stewart is an honest gentleman and great to work with. His cables are extremely reasonably priced and come with a money-back. Pure silver. Sounded great in my system.

I am currently breaking-in while thoroughly enjoying a pair of Patrick Cullen's "Cullen Custom XLR interconnects".
They sound remarkably good between my W4S DAC-2 and W4S ST-500 power amp. The build quality and appearance are also very good, not only the sound.
At $70 + $9 shipping and with 30 days return policy, how could one go wrong?
You don't like how they sound in your system, return them.
You'll only be short round trip shipping for the audition, a max of $18, albeit the cables fit pretty well inside priority mail "if it fits it ships" boxes of around $5. So it will be $14 for a 30 days in home audition.
By all means, try them. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

I've been burning in the Mogami's and they continue to improve. I'm not sure their the best sounding cables in my system, but my best set of cables cost me a kilobuck and I can only say they sound different, maybe a bit less aggressive than the Mogami's, but their single ended vs. balanced, I think i need to get used to the balanced sound. I actually got my two teenage boys to an A/B comparison for me as I did not want to be biased and they chose the Mogami's over a pair of Kimber single ended KS1021's. The Kimbers are very rsolving and laid back where the Mogami's have more excitement.

Installed the Mogamis today. Without any break in time they sounded great, much more base and crisp micro details. The Mogamis went head to head (for a cost of $70 a pair) against my significantly more expensive single ended Kimber KS 1021's. I'm not sure yet, but the Kimbers may take a back seat to the Mogamis on first listen and find a new home hooked up to my headphone amp. I believe the IC world is a racket. I also believe there are some outstanding performers out there that don't cost $$$$.

I'm going to be listing a couple of Morrow Audio MA4 one meter balanced cables for sale soon

10-03-10: Rpg
I know the price of the Huffman's are about $230, however I don't know the price of a Meter for the Mogami's.

Mogami is ~$35/meter at just about any major pro musician/guitar shop, with a 30 day money back guarantee.

Mogami or Huffman? If the difference between the two is small in terms of performance, I think maybe the Mogami is the way to go. I know the price of the Huffman's are about $230, however I don't know the price of a Meter for the Mogami's.

Thanks all for your help!

I used Cardas Quadlink 5c and Nordost Blacknight with my Cambridge CD6. Loved 'em both.

My bang for buck suggestion, tho, get a decent power cable for $150 and a used paid of balanced IC's for $150.

Go to the closeout page at Zu Audio's website. Scroll down to where you can get Wylde XLR IC at $99/pair or Varial, their flagship until about a month ago at $299/pair. These are about 70% off list price before the closeout. Zu also provides a 60-day evaluation/return period and return shipping would be under $10 if you decide its not for you.

Check out Grover's website (groverhuffman.com). IMHO, his is an excellent product at a more than competitive price.

Mogami is what I use with or without my Atma-Sphere amp. Their RCA cable are very good too. For XLR you do want the Studio Gold Neglex Quad.

I have used Grover Huffman cables as well and they are also very good. Cost more than Mogami, but use ribbon conductors instead of stranded. They come with a generous trial period so you have nothing to lose but time and postage in giving them an audition.

Save your $$$ and try some Mogami....available at Guitar Center.

I use the 'Gold' in 6' length. Terrific cable. This is from the Microphone line.....

PS:: I have the CA 840c.......good match.

It's sad when $300 for IC is considered "budget".

Check out Anti-Cables

Catastrofe, can you shed a little more light on "Grover Huffman"? Any additional info would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Two words. Grover Huffman.

09-27-10: Rpg
Darkmoebius, which Mogami XLR? Thay have Microphone cable and interconnect cable. The Mic cable is about $20 more for each cable than the their IC cable.

Mogami Neglex Quad 2534 is listed as a microphone cable on the manufacturer's website.

Here's the $35 (3 ft) Mogami Gold Neglex Quad Microphone Cable for Studio Neutrik XLR at Guitar Center. You can select longer lengths on the right side of the screen under the price.

Upside of this is that you can order some and try for 30 days, if not up to snuff, get a full refund.

Darkmoebius, which Mogami XLR? Thay have Microphone cable and interconnect cable. The Mic cable is about $20 more for each cable than the their IC cable. Can you or anyone else help with suggesting the right cable? Thanks!

09-26-10: Rpg
Thanks to all who have responded. It looks like the Mogami IC's are worth a try.

All these guitar/musician outlets sell pre-terminated Mogami XLR cables in 2, 3, 6, and longer lengths. Seems like the vary from $25-65

Audio metallurgy GA-0's in my system they bested Cardas golden reference.

With even basic soldering skills, some patience, and a bit of heatshrink, you can make a very nice sounding pair of balanced IC's in your price range by purchasing high quality bulk IC cable from Furutech, Neotech, VH Audio's own Symmetry cable, and others, then installing XLR connectors from Furutech, Neutrik, or others. For example, from Partsconnexion, 2M of u-P2.1 IC cable is $82 and four of the Furutech FP-701/702 connectors would be $50. For a total cost of $132 you would have PCOCC wire that has undergone Furutech's magnetic and cryogenic Alpha treatment and some nice connectors. You could upgrade the same cable with some of the nicest connectors out there FP-601/602 for a total cable cost of about $332, which could get down to your (under $300) price range if you wait for one of their 15-20% off sales (usually in Oct, Nov and Dec).

Pure Note Alluvion is a fine cable in $300 range. Neutrik pro-grade connectors, silver-palladium wire, and noise free carbon sheath. I have used them with my BAT amp/preamp with good results. Worth checking out.

http://www.trsaudio.com

Thanks to all who have responded. It looks like the Mogami IC's are worth a try. I find it interesting that more pro products are not discussed in these forums, no snake oil and at realistic prices. I mean come on, I have seen $8K IC's in these pages - crazy!

I like my Balanced Power Technologies (BPT) balanced IC; they come in at your price point. John

I think there are many good cables in the 300.00 and under price range. Having gone through thousands of dollars in chasing that improvement that is just not worth it.
Darkmoebius mentioned trying something I never heard or thought of, well worth looking into.
If I had a need for any more XLR's I would seriously look at Patrick Cullen and what he is making up in cables. I have never heard his IC's but about 6 months ago I bought 2 of his power cords and they are very very good.
I think he is cullen05 on audiogon. Many fellows will shy away from these as I think he gets 70.00 a pair and many feel that if they are not $$$$$ they must not be any good. Not true.
Dave

Ralph Karsten, owner/designer of Atmasphere fully balanced/differential preamps and amps has stated many times that he uses pro Mogami Neglex 2534 balanced cables in both his high end consumer and pro audio setups.

I think Ralph's point has been if the balanced/differential stage has been properly designed/executed, then it's sole purpose is to make cabling issues irrelevant. As a result, there should be no need for anything more than a well-designed pro cable. (I hope I got that right)