XLR cables, worth buying higher end?

Do yourself a HUGE favor. and save at least a grand or two..

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202814766958

This guy has been as solid as a ROCK for over a year. 

54.00 for a pair. 1-3 weeks delivery.  I use a 3 meter pair too, dead quiet super detailed, 200+ hours for break in.. there is NO conditioning on the cables..

A week of conditioning on a cooker will net you about a 100 hour break-in in leu of 2-400. They take a LONG time.. Worth every penny X 100, according to some cable manufactures... I see exactly why TOP cable manufactures use this exact cable. The price NO, The quality yes, TOP TOP TOP of the line...

Good work too.. I'm picky.. I've taken this guy stuff apart several times.. Always the same. "THEY" Lock tight the screws and stuff does stay tight... They say it's silver over copper, it's a silver over copper terminal end...

It does NOT glow in the dark...

Enjoy..

I have tried a number of balanced cables and every one sounds a bit different, particularly for longer runs. I have 25ft cables between my preamp and monoblock power amps, and the difference between cables is more noticeable. I have found that with balanced cables, the differences between cables is a bit more sublet than with RCA cables, but it's still there. 

I'm not saying you need to spend $$$, but IMO it's worth trying out a few different cables to see which ones you prefer in your system. 

If your equipment supports AES48 protocol, then different XLR cables should not make big difference.
I switched from cables Ralph Karsten (Atmasphere) sold me (Mogami) to some AQ (I forgot the model).  And, I didn't notice a significant difference in sound quality.
YMMV
Bob

AES48 dictates which pins are used for what, how shields are used, and how grounding is connected, and assumes a fully balanced source signal and differential or transformer-coupled input. All good things for sure, and critical for achieving the common mode rejection and prevention of ground loops that balanced cables are known for. But there is more to cable behavior/performance than this. 

Just like with a single ended cable, the sound quality is still influenced by dielectric material, conductor material, impedance vs frequency, propagation delay vs frequency, connector material, termination method, etc. 

You can argue how important these factors are (just as with single ended cables), but they don't become irrelevant just because you are using a balanced connection. 

Mogami gold aes xlr seems to be the clear winner. A very credible player, widely used by pros.  

$65 per cable.  Will try.

abit nutty to spend $500 or more.