Ever Used the Audioquest King Cobra?

I've had three AQ ICs before - Ruby, Viper and King Cobra. Viper was more extended (highs and lows) than Ruby with better control and tighter bass while King Cobra was more refined and even slightly more extended on both ends than Viper.

Audioquest, to be competitive, moved production to China and changed cable names. Older Python became much cheaper King Cobra while Viper became Diamondback.

King Cobra is very neutral refined and airy - good cable (I had 0.5m XLR). Hope it helps.

Missioncoonery - Perhaps these $75 on ebay plays negative placebo effect on you? It was called Python before and costed about $400 (great reviews). I replaced it with same type (XLR) and same length (0.5m) Acoustic Zen Absolute (not too many ICs better than that) and can tell you that difference is not that big. Of course Absolute is cleaner and more refined but King Cobra has similar nice neutral balance and is a steal for what it costs IMHO.