Don't have an 850, but w/ the 21, Nordost Quattros are amazing. Had Stealth PGS (RCA)that were excellent, but not as alive as the Quattro fils. The guy I bought them from owns an improved 860 and has no desire to check out anything else (except maybe Valhallas). Steve Huntley at Great Northern Sound has a lot of experience w/ pretty much all the Wadia products and would probably be a great source of info for you. I've heard that w/ some systems the Nordost cable can sound a bit thin, I haven't experienced this. There are some cooked and cryoed fils for $600 a .5m xlr pair in the classified ic section. From what I've seen, this would be very tough to beat.
Best XLR cable for Wadia 850?
I run an Adcom 750 preamp to a Pass A5 into electrostats. I need a short (.5m to 1m) XLR cable from the Wadia into the Adcom. (Yes, I have a long XLR into the amp from the preamp, and have several audio sources, tuner, vinyl so I cannot be purist.) Right now I am using an early Stealth Silver and an Alpha Core TQ1 silver - both have good points. I am thinking either Cardas Golden Reference or Audioquest (all low Z not wierd science,) used of course, but you see the price range. I am using Nordost speaker cable (but a friend is going to let me try some Magnan Sigs for the speakers.) I think that palpability, sweetness and detail are my criteria. Thoughts?