Do Costly XLR Cables Make A Difference?

If I was looking to spend $2,000 on balanced cables, I’d start with Iconoclast 4x4 cable in the material of your choice. I like that the designed by someone that not only demonstrates that he understands the science behind cables, but also recognizes that there’s more to cables than the measurements. His designs are very weld thought out, but they are also offered in multiple conductor materials. You also get 30 days to send them back for any reason.

I might be able to talk myself into the budget BAV variety at some point. Unfortunately, the rest of well above anything I’d consider to be a reasonable purchase.

At a minimum, read the iconoclast design brief.  https://iconoclastcable.com/xlr/index.htm

@reimarc - What's most interesting is that even if we could measure every aspect of cables and audio equipment in general, listener preference would still trump.  My ideal would be to meaningfully correlate measurements to sound signatures so that it would be possible to use the measurements to make at least an educated as to whether I might appreciate the product.

I'm on Day 1 with my first audiophile approved balanced interconnects.  Here's what I can say:

Denafrips Ares II DAC to Pathos Classic One Mkiii

Original Interconnect was 1m Audioquest Sydney RCA ($200).

Trial Interconnect was 6ft Monoprice Premier Series XLR ($30).  Result was a very similar sound that I convinced myself had lost some of the smoothness of the AQ Sydney, but it was very similar.

New Interconnect is 1m Morrow Audio MA4 XLR ($330).  Initial impressions are that the sound is clearly different (i.e. I can describe in detail specific things that sound different on a given song).  To my ears, I won't be going back.

I wasn't sure what to expect because I've been very happy with the AQ Sydney and with the short 1m interconnect it's easy to argue that I shouldn't hear much of a difference, especially based on how similar the Monoprice XLR sounded to the AQ.

@tweak1 - That's interesting to hear.  The local shop that I purchased it from (used) will repair Pathos I'm fairly certain.  Also, I'm a member of a Pathos group on FB and one of the members works at Pathos and is routinely asking questions and such.  She even pushed on Upscale Audio for me when I was trying to get a remote for it through them.