XLRs are great connectors - I've soldered up hundreds over my career and still have a few now-vintage US made Switchcraft pieces in storage. However, unless you have a true balanced system, they are an expensive vanity. Properly used, as the Atma-Sphere paper (well-written IMHO) describes, they are superior without question. Problem is the vast majority of hifi equipment isn't balanced. It's single-ended, and not intended to drive more than 3M or so of high impedance load, not 30M of low impedance. Also balanced cables are not 'louder' they are passive and incapable of adding gain. The equipment with which they are used may have different gain structures which could lead someone to that conclusion, however.
XLR cables for a reasonable price?
I've seen lots of threads where it is stated that balanced components are "insensitive" to cables. Does this mean that spending a lot of money on XLR cables is probably unnecessary, as it offers no sonic benefit over cheaper XLR cables?
I would like some recommendations on reasonably priced XLR cables that give excellent sonic performance. Thanks for your replies.