characteristics between these

I'll put in a good word for the Hero, which I use. Don't know anything about the others, though. My personal theory is don't spend too much money on wire - you will not hear enough difference between a company's highest and lowest price products to justify the often ridiculous price differences. Wire is not going to make your system sound better - everything in the signal path does degrade the signal, so it is a question of not doing harm. Just go with a good company's product in the lower end of their range. I actually was going to go with an even cheaper interconnect than the Hero, but I got a really good deal on them.

I would suggest that you add the Morrow Audio MA2 cables to your short list of excellent sounding, reasonably priced interconnects. I use them in two of my audio systems, and I have found that they offer sound quality that is in a league well above their price tier. I believe that Mike is offering a 60-day audition that allows you to try his cables on what amounts to a risk-free basis.

As for the sound quality, I have found the cables to be exceedingly neutral. The cables won't do much of anything in the way of acting as tone controls. They will simply give you a very transparent window into the inherent sound of your components and recordings.

In my system, there is nothing better than Anti-Cables. Check out my system

I'll second the response with Hero, good solid cable that maintains air and space in the soundstage. I also have to put in a vote for Kimber PBJ in terms of clarity and air. A good combination for me is Kimber Select 1011 upstream and PBJ between preamp and amps. The select is round, full-bodied and very very smooth and the PBJ adds clarity, air and a little bite for excitement. Two runs of either is too much. I find they balance each other nicely.....tuning the system you might say.

Anti-Cables are quite good. Also outstanding are DNM Reson with Eichmann bullet plugs. I used both to great effect. Hero is good too, though I liked the aforementioned better.

Thank you all very much for your response.

I'm off to have fun with some ICs. :)