Which Firewall cable

Maybe you mean Firewire cable? Assume you are doing computer based audio?

"Please share your experiences. Last thing I want to do is spend more than necessary."

Call the Cable Company and then you will spend exactly what you need to, but no more.

Assuming you are referring to Firewire cables, in addition to those offered by The Cable Company (which I see range in price from $35 to $645 for short lengths) consider those made by Granite Digital.

While not being particularly oriented toward the audiophile market, and therefore selling for relatively modest prices (e.g., $30 to $90 or so depending on length), their cables are far better made than typical generic Firewire cables. One indication of that is that their Firewire 400 (IEEE 1394a) cables are specified to operate at lengths of up to 32 feet, which is more than twice the 1394a maximum length specification. Also, they are triple-shielded and have ferrite beads for noise reduction.

While I have only used Granite Digital Firewire cables in non-audio applications, I know of at least one A'gon member who has a very fine audio system, and whose ears are very discerning, who has used them with excellent results in his system. And given that the timing of D/A conversion is not determined by the timing of Firewire data transfers, and given the apparently excellent shielding provided by the Granite Digital cables, I can't envision any technical reason why paying more for an audiophile-oriented cable would provide any benefit. It wouldn't surprise me, in fact, if some of those more expensive cables performed worse.

Also, keep in mind that if the purpose of the Firewire cable is to connect an external hard drive to a computer, sensitivity to cable differences, if any, figures to be far less than if the purpose is to connect the computer to a DAC. (And I should therefore mention that the other member whose experience I referred to was using the Granite Digital cable to connect an external hard drive to a computer).

Regards,
-- Al