Inter Connects - What I know and don't know

I tried Mogami Gold XLR balanced ICs because they are cheap ($125) and so many postings indicating that balanced ICs don't make a difference if well constructed.  Baloney!!!  After breaking in 100 hours, they sounded like crap in my high end system (let them play without me in the room).  Flat, tonally thin, lacking dynamic contrast, totally uninteresting for domestic home use.  They are touted as the best studio recording cable.  I grant them their neutral tonal balance, clean and noise free qualities.  Maybe that's what is needed in a recording studio.  For listening pleasure (lack of), they are awful!  Monster 300s sound superior (light in the highs, very rich bottom, dynamic, not neutral but very listenable for a $15 cable).

My ICs cost $700 and have patented air core suspended wires (Grover Huffman) with a very elaborate construction.  I've heard other moderate and high end cables (I'm a cable beta tester).   Some are awful (High Fidelity-dead company) and some are quite good with wide range of price. 

I think the comments on XLR's not affecting the sound is tied to gear that is AES48 compliant. Most consumer audio gear is not.

My Benchmark gear is AES48 compliant and XLR's from Benchmark XLR level and up, such as Audience AU24 SE do not make a difference between the Benchmark components, DAC3B, LA4, and AHB2. With my other sources connect to the LA4 preamp the XLR matter, so I use Audience and WyWire with those.

@wisccheese 

FYI. I am friends with dealer. He let me try a set of Nordost Odin 2 for a few weeks. I actually did not own them. After a couple weeks I had to take them out of my system as they were so good, I was starting to wonder how I could scrape together and buy a set every year. My average component cost is $20K…buying $17K interconnects… well, i’m retired… this is not something I should be considering. But I was…. They are really amazing.

OP -- I would start with a lower cost balanced cable and, as others have suggested, try borrowing something expensive to compare.  But I would only do that comparison after living with the Atmasphere amps for a while.  Also highly recommend prioritizing budget for a preamp before pricey cables.  That's going to make a much bigger difference in the sound quality you hear.  I've tried the streamer (with volume attenuation) into the DAC directly into the amp and didn't love the sound at all.  If you had something like a Lumin U2, maybe that would sound good with Leedh processing but I think you're giving up a lot doing it through Bluesound Node. Sounds like you're getting a Burson to try -- haven't heard it but better than no preamp.

I'm really curious about your bake-off between Decware Zen Triode and Atmasphere digital monoblocks with your Tektons.  I can't imagine they'll sound anything alike and seems like an odd comparison, but very interested in the results.

Have fun!

@atmasphere

Hi, I asked T+A about whether or not their DAC 200 is AES48 compliant and they responded:

"The AES48 standard was paid attention to when designing this DAC. There is a small difference, though: the connection between pin1 and enclosure is not direct but via a 100nF cap. This cap has no negative effect on EMI or shielding."

However, their specs state 2.5V SE and 5V Balanced i.e. the typical doubling of output for non compliant balanced output. ("High level (RCA) 0...2,5 Veff / 22 Ohms, balanced (XLR) 0...5,0 Veff / 22 Ohms")

What do you make of their statement? As per your post above it sounds like this DAC is NOT AES48 ...