I tried the mc2, the kimber d60, nordost silver something, and the top line xlo. Guess I should've included that somewhere in my post. The az is very good, especially for the money, but I feel the nirvana is a step above it. Your mileage may vary. Amazingly, I still have people around me telling me that digital cables 'can't' have a sound; it's just ones & zeroes. Well, either I've got the best ears on the planet, or something else is going on. Every single one of the dig cables I tried had a distinct 'sound.' Why else would someone in their right mind (questionable) spend $800 on a digital cable?