Long XLR Interconnect Cables

My experience running long (8M) balanced pre-power interconnects is that there absolutely is a difference and frankly the longer lengths only exacerbate it. I clearly heard improvements going from Nordost Tyr to AQ Sky to AQ WEL. The only problem of course is the cost of these very long runs. One thing to bear in mind if you are purchasing a long run is what after sales service the manufacturer offers. When I moved I no longer needed a 10M run so AQ were happy to re-terminate my 10M WEL cable as one 7.5M cable and two 1.25M cables at a very modest cost. As the market for very long runs is probably thin having this manufacturer supported flexibility is very valuable, I'd recommend you check if Acoustic Zen can do this for you should you find your needs change in the future.

I am using Aesthetix Eclipse preamp with dual PS and Aesthetix Atlas Monoblok Signature. The cable is Mogami 3173 gold. It's what they called audiophile itch so I am thinking if it would improve the SQ IF I use a more expensive XLR long interconnect cable.

I had substantial improvement replacing short 0.5m XLR AQ King Cobra with AZ Absolute (silver).  I suspect, that improvement would be greater for longer cables.  Both cables were natural sounding, but Absolute was cleaner (more refined) and faster.

I looked at the descriptions and technical specs for the AZ Absolute Silver, the Mogami 3173 (which appears to be an AES/EBU digital cable, btw, although that most likely isn’t an issue), and the output impedance specs for the non-Eclipse version of the Calypso, as indicated in Stereophile’s measurements. I also took into account that in the Eclipse version the value of the output coupling capacitors is doubled (which would reduce output impedance significantly), and the quality of those capacitors is also apparently improved.

The bottom line is that from a purely technical standpoint I don’t see any issues with either cable, in your application, at the length you indicated. (I would not say the same thing, btw, if you were connecting the Mogami cable via RCA’s, for which the preamp’s output impedance at high frequencies is much higher than for its XLR outputs).

But given Kijanki’s comments (which I always consider to be especially credible), and given that I find the description and specs of the AZ cable to be particularly impressive, and given that the design of the AZ is substantially different than the design of the Mogami in several respects, FWIW my guess is that you are likely to realize a significant upgrade going to the AZ. Whether or not that upgrade will be worth to you the many thousands of dollars that it would apparently cost I of course can’t say.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al

I had Goertz balanced interconnects with a Aesthetix Calypso and Atlas. I replaced them with balanced Nordost Tyr 2 interconnects and the improvement was significant.