After listening to the Belden 8402 for over a week, and then putting my former cables back in the system, the comparison unfortunately was not even close. My other cables have similar warmth and tonal density but much better extension, definition and smoothness throughout the entire frequency range. The Beldens are midrange-centric and, in comparison, sound somewhat veiled, with a rough top end, less definition in the bass, and less smoothness overall.
The comparison included two sets of ICs, one from my DAC to preamp and the other from preamp to power amp(s). My other cables are made with multiple strands of woven, small diameter (28awg), high quality copper (22awg aggregate per leg) in cotton and use high quality Furutech FP-601/602 connectors. I tried both sets with two different power amps, an Ncore NC1200 Class D amp and a high quality McCormack/SMc Signature Class A/B amp. I heard the same result with both amps, with the Belden cables sounding particularly bad with the Class D Ncore amps, which are a bit dark sounding to begin with.
The Belden construction included two sets of balanced cables using moderately high quality Vampire XLR connectors, and the braid shield connected to ground at both ends. The Belden cables were conditioned for about two days on an Audiodharma Cable Cooker, played for hours in my system with the Ayre frequency sweep burn-in track on repeat, and then played with music for over a week. They should have been burned in enough to show their characteristic sound.
When I make balanced IC cables, I typically only connect the shield at the source end but I space it away from the conductors and spiral a separate wire outside the shield connected to ground at both ends. I believe that is a superior construction method and I suppose I could have tried a separate ground wire outside the Belden jacket with the shield connected only at the source end, but I didn't.
I know some of you guys really like the Belden 8402 and will disagree with what I hear, so maybe the difference is in the balanced construction or in my system using high powered amp(s) with moderate efficiency speakers, compared to the lower powered amps and higher efficiency speakers many of you have. Maybe I am just fortunate to have really good ICs for comparison. I cannot explain, but what I have described is what I hear.
