What cable companies make the best cables and sell them directly?

no shortage of options out there... 

Stager Silver Solids -

Pure silver in Teflon at $150 for a meter pair, they've have beeen compared to and surpassed far more costly cables.
Reviews (several reviewers bought them at full price) and copious user comments at:  https://stagersound.com/silver

Worth your considerastion, methinks,
Marc Stager
(yep, I make these!)

Wavetouch audio makes best cables and sells direct. Best quality cables? The proof is in videos of Audiophile Junkie. AJ recorded many rooms at the audio show Long Beach last month. You can hear all of them in his youtube channel. I hear the true music is flowing only at WT room (#407). Almost other rooms had veiled and broken sounds. Many ears are used those sounds and they can’t hear the true WT sound.

In below AJ’s videos, from 5:00, if you hear AJ’s (& people) voice is clear and normal, your ears are OK. At this moment, you pinch your nose and blow to equalize your ears. Many ears are covered up due to harsh hi-fi sound.

Then from 7:50 the music starts and you hear a strange music sound. Your ears will try to adjust to this sound and soon the sound becomes barely OK. However, AJ’s voice becomes abnormal now. Every times there is human voice (or real sound), your ears will adjust to the sound and then the hi-fi sound becomes unlistenable. Your ears work very hard to adjust between real sounds and reproduced hi-fi sounds. This is a reason we get the listener fatigue. Almost all sound systems including super expensive audio setups emit this unreal sound.

In below AJ’s video, listen to AJ’s (and people) voices and WT sound. They are almost same kind. Your ears don’t get tired from WT’s real sound. This is proof that WT cables are the best. Cheers,

Alex/Wavetouch 

Hello firstonetallguy,

My 2 cents: with no time/no money to test all cables, I have simply applied the advices from TAS High-End Audio Buyer's Guide (www.theabsolutesound.com)  

In the 2021 release, they recommended the Moon Audio cables Silver Dragon cables (p 226) among other more famous brands.

I have witnessed tremendous improvement with most connections (interconnect cables, USB cable and Ethernet cable).

Before I had tried other cable brands in order to improve the SQ at about the same price but was either not impressed (ie no improvement) or even very disappointed (very harsh sound causing fatigue). 

I was also very doubtful about the USB and the Ethernet cables as many people in this forum say that there is no difference. In my case the difference was quite substantial (stage depth and width, openness, details, etc...) and I will never go back to basic USB and Ethernet cables.

There is also "The Absolute Sound’s 2017 Guide to Affordable High-End Audio" which proposes various bargain cables. Maybe worth considering even though this guide is already 5 years old.

Hoping this helps.

Hi Everyone,

I have gone over all of the responses to this date, 07/04/22, and have spreadsheeted the results that you see below.  These are the company names with the quantities of mentions.  I thought this might be helpful to others who are following this discussion.

If you have not contributed and want to add your agreement or disagreement with any of the names listed, please do so and I will adjust accordingly in the future.

Please remember I am only interested in businesses that sell their cables directly to the public.

Thanks again for all your wonderful help.

You can add Danny at GR Research to your list for power and speaker cables (speaker cables are kits, or you can pay him to build for you).

I just received three power cables from him last week, and am pretty impressed thus far. Seems a good deal for the $ as well. 

You also have Mad Scientist Audio.

I have his Nitro Nano, Nano and Basic power cables.

Also have the Black Magic USB cable.

Zavfino for sure. Multiple tiers at various price points. Pick your “poison”. Top performance for each price point.

I also have:

Audience AU24sx RCA cables. My best cable purchase. Runs from Dac to amp.

Black Cat Silverstar 75 Mk1 from my clock.

Blue Jeans I2S cable and ethernet cable.

Jena Labs

For me cables do make an audible difference, but I am a big believer in "Bang for the buck" cables.....nothing I have is more than $300 per cable in my $12,000 system, below are cables I have used with great success and some new ones I'm going to be testing:

Morrow Audio MA4 XLR cables, and DIG4 digital co-ax....Mike Morrow indicated to me that the Level 4 class cables are the best bang for the buck in his line up, and I am incredibly satisfied. These cables MUST be broken in, I used the 20 day (480 hour) break in service they offer.. Right now they have an anniversary sale they've had for several months, Level 4 cables are 50% off of list price....also have a generous trade up program

Anti-Cables speaker cables, Level 2.1 and level 3.1 - Have had these for years, and have never felt they were a limiting factor in my systems.....NOTE: These MUST be broken in, 100 to 200 hours. The 3.1 speaker cables will probably remain in my new reference system....have tried their interconnects, but did not like them....especially compared to the Morrow cables. Have a generous return and trade up program

Cullen Cables C7 power cable (Bluesound Node), and Crossover Speaker cables - I am fond of cable and tube rolling, and will be comparing these cables over time with the GR Research for my second system

GR Research - Will be building a 5 foot pair of Danny's DIY 24 strand speaker cables, great reviews 

Pangea power cables - Use AC-9SE MkII for amplifier and pre-amp, and AC-14SE MkII cables for low current applications. Also have a dedicated 20 AMP circuit for amplifier.....dedicated circuit made more of a difference than any power cable I compared

Supra Cables USB and Ethernet cables - Currently evaluating and comparing to Wireworld cables

Wireworld USB Starlight 8 cable, and Chroma 8 Twinax Ethernet cable, again will be comparing with Supra Cables

Audioquest Vodka 48 HDMI cable for I2S 

Add one more for Anti Cables.  I have a very rough setup in that I need 48' cables to my speaker when I moved into my current house..  They were an improvement to my old, more expensive, 10' cables even though they were that long.

I spoke to the owner about their design, and what he said actually made scientific sense.  I don't want to get into the details because he spent a lot of money getting expert help to improve his cables.

There are probably better ones out there, but not at this price.  And there are many, many more that are worse and much worse.

"audiolund cable" makes very good cables in many price category.

Another vote for Silversmith Fidelium.....

Audiosensibility cables must see and listen

Anticables, good AC cables

@firstonetallguy I second just about everything ghdprentice has to say. That said, as I’m late to the party, I’m very surprised nobody has yet mentioned DH Labs Silver Sonic cables. They sell direct, and they engineer and build their cables and connectors in the USA. Many of the manufacturers you listed in your spreadsheet are using other manufacturers’ cables like Belden, dressing them up in fancy jackets, and adding 3rd party connectors. They’re not really engineering the conductors, dielectrics, connectors, ie the entire cable to perform a certain way the way DH Labs does. This is no way to imply that DH Labs is the best, but they ought to be worth looking into, especially at their price points.

I've liked DH Labs. Using Black Cat / Graceline and like that best -- all kinds of price ranges, starts at $299 I believe.

If you want forgiving cable, Triode Wire Labs. Once I upgraded electronics, I found that TWL wasn't the best fit, it was a bottleneck.

Jena labs 

Some really great info here. 

sain line systems makes some of the best cables I've ever heard.

Excellent power cables and the silver ribbon interconnects are really something.

https://sainlinesystems.com/

+1 on DH Labs. Just got a pair of DH Labs BL-1 Series 2 interconnects used. Two pairs for $85 shipped!

I originally had DH Labs White Lightning interconnects based on the recommendation of a local dealer whose ears I trust. The White Lightnings sounded better to me than the entry level Audioquests from their Bridges and Tunnels line of cables. The BL-1s are a noticeable step up from the White Lightning in terms of sounding more transparent and conveying air and ambient cues in the music. If I ever get bored, I might try some more expensive interconnects, but I'm mighty impressed with the DH Labs BL-1s.

And so affordable...

If you have DIY skills, this listing is quite incredible. I have no affiliation with it, but if I were to buy this I would split this up into six 1M pairs and just buy the connectors. Could be a full loom for an incredible price. 

+1 Audio Sensibility

Have bought a couple of ethernet cables this week.

Freedom Cat 6 copper from Pete of Triode Wire Labs.

A nice guy to deal with, and a reasonable price.

Was also looking at Mad Scientist and Sablon.

Hi Everyone,

I am enclosing the updated spreadsheet reflecting the additions to the suggested Direct Cable Company list.  It includes the added information up to this date, 7/31/2022.  I will follow up with the new submissions as needed.

I especially would like any who read this list to please add your cable agreements. Just a short note  “+1 Company XYZ”  if you enjoy what you are using that is on this list.  It would be most helpful to all.

Thanks again for all of your beneficial advice.

COMPANY                                                    
                                                    
Analysis Plus    1                                                
Anti Cables    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1                    
Art Cable    1    1                                            
Audience    1    1    1    1                                    
Audio Art    1    1                                            
Audio Envy    1    1    1    1    1                                
Audiolund     1                                                
Audio Sensibility    1    1    1    1    1    1                            
Audiomica    1                                                
Auditorium23    1                                                
Benchmark     1                                                
Black Cat Cable    1    1                                            
Blue Jeans Cable    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1    1        
Cable Company    1    1    1    1                                    
Cerious Technology    1    1                                            
Chin Audio Labs    1                                                
Chroma   1                                                 
Cullen Cable    1    1    1    1    1                                
Custom House    1                                                
Darwin    1    1                                            
DH Labs Silver Sonic    1    1    1                                        
Dueland    1                                                
EWA Cables    1                                                
Gig Harbor Audio    1                                                
Grover Huffman    1    1    1    1                                    
GR Research    1    1                                            
HaveInc    1                                                
High Fidelity    1                                                
Iconoclast    1    1                                            
Jena Labs    1    1                                            
Lavri Cable    1                                                
Mad Scientist Audio    1                                                
Morrow Audio    1    1    1    1    1    1                            
Purist Audio    1    1    1                                        
Raven Audio    1    1    1                                        
Requisite Audio    1                                                
Sain Line    1                                                
Shindo    1                                                
Signal Cable    1    1    1    1    1    1    1                        
Silnote Audio    1    1    1                                        
Silversmith Audio    1    1    1    1    1    1                            
Sommer Cables    1                                                
Stager Sound    1                                                
Tempo    1                                                
Townshend    1                                                
Transparent Cable    1    1    1                                        
Triode Wire Labs    1    1    1    1    1    1                            
Wavetouch    1                                                
Wisdom Cable    1                                                
Wywires    1                                                
Zavfino    1    1    1    1    1                                
Zenwave    1    1                                            
                                                    

WyWires. Very neutral and plays well with others. Not a big name so on the used market they are a great buy.

Anti Cables for fun and Triode Wire Labs cables for music