Regular Cardas interconnects for VPI?

Should work great. Usually the only thing that's different between a regular interconnect and a "phono" interconnect, (i.e. NON DIN...RCA to RCA) is the addition of the ground wire.

should be no problem and sound great.

Some claim dedicated phono interconnects are better as they are generally smaller guage, somehow better preserve the integrity of the very low level cartridge output signal. I've never compared the two directly, just use regular IC.

Hmmm...what about shielding?

Yes, in general it will work for both applications but is that all? The main difference between the two, for me, is that one will carry a low level signal and one a line level signal. Shield should be considered as any interference picked up by the phono IC's (low signal more prone/susceptible to interference) will be amplified by 42 dB (typical phono gain for MM) + SUT gain plus linestage gain. I think saying that the only difference between the two is the drain wire is a little vague IMHO. Just like saying that the difference between two ,say, 6SN7 tubes from different manufacturers is only the brand name.

My opinion only.

In my system, I've definitely had problems with hum and radio interception using unshielded interconnects. Tried several brands of unshielded cables with the same poor results.

That's a good point about shielding but I can't imagine that dedicated phono cables would have more shielding than regular ICs. I have a set of SME phono cables that I've been using and other than the nice plugs they don't look like anything special.

I've not noticed any difference in shielding between same exact models of IC's vs. phono cables. IC's also seem to be just as likely to be shielded as phono cables. Really very few unshielded IC's out there, even the most elementary have a twist over them, Speltz cable for an example.

Well, yeah, but I am talking about "proper" shielding not the amount of it. Remember, my argument is about "having the drain wire as the only difference between a phono IC and regular line level IC's".

In phono, it is ideal that the outer shield of the two conductors (positive and negative phase, not to be confuse with positive and ground)should be connected on the phono/SUT side only. It is not why it is shielded, it is how it is shielded in some cases. For example, the Mogami 2534. If you follow the markings, the 4 pvc dressed then braided conductors are twisted in a way to use its shield as effective as it is designed for and thus making the cable directional in this application.

I think that a "twist" is not a shield in electrical sense. It is a geometrical arrangement of the current carrying conductors so that the perpendicular lines of force of the voltage and magnetic vectors as current flows in a specific direction to the conductor cancels out and not aid each other resulting to less interference and signal integrity. The arrangement forms a shield, but the twist is by any means not a shield.