Jeff Rowlands Amp and Dac vs. VAC amp and DAC

Based on my experience I would limit how much I spent on cables and invest in a preamp. No absolutes, this is based on my system: JR 625 S2 amp, JR Aeris DAC, JR Corus preamp, Bryston BDP2, and Monitor Audio PL500's. Besides speakers, adding the Corus preamp was the most rewarding change that I've ever made. After speakers and the Corus adding the Torus power conditioner had the most positive impact on the sound. 

Re the AQ cables -- I am a very satisfied user and buyer/seller of lots of WEL. WEL will beat WBY any time. As to the connectors don't worry, the old ones are fine. You should expect to pay no more than $2K (give or take) for a used 1M WEL interconnect. In general avoid 0.5M cables as they are a) the most expensive per 1M length, b) least useful in most setups and as a result c) hard to sell. AQ price books can be obtained from the AQ web site and typically expect to pay 25-35% of new price for a good quality used cable

AQ also stand behind their cables very well and will re-terminate or change the length of your cable at a reasonable cost

Finally if you are buying new you should expect at least a 20% discount, any dealer that is not prepared to offer a discount on AQ cables is having you on

Needless to say the Devialet for WBY trade is a dog

Needless to say, the Devialet trade is terrible. I totally agree. And if I gave the impression otherwise, I am sorry for the confusion.

Folkfreak (I really like your user name), the choice is Blue Yonder 1 m for less $$ and newer cable, or Wel .5 m for more $$ but both are a good deal. Thing is, I don't really need more than .5 m. The DAC sits on top of the amp?

Ricred1, I agree but I am not in the market just yet for the preamp. It will come. Maybe in 6 months to a year. I will look to see if there are any good used preamps that will work with the 625. A Corus perhaps, but how often do they come up? A tube amp, perhaps? Maybe a demo. I would like to hear some with the amp but first want to spend sometime getting to know it as it is. So, a good cable makes sense, no?

Folkfreak, can you tell me what WBY means? And would it make sense then to go with the Blue yonder which is 1 m over the .5 m Wel?

WBY is "Wild Blue Yonder" which is the full name for the AQ Wild cable

WEL sounds so much better than Wild, if you are going to get a cable hold out for the WEL. The Wild for sale has no box which is a major no no with a used cable, easily reduces the value by 10% -- there is no reason it should have been sold sans box. My guess is based on the look of this pair is that they were cut down (by AQ, which is fine) from a longer set, the condition looks just like the way AQ returned my 12M WEL when I had it cut down to an 8M and two 2M cables

Of the two WEL for sale one (the 1M one) is odd. I have never seen a pair with a silver finish XLR, most are gold. Check the AQ price books to see what they should look like. This to me is fishy. I checked all the AQ pricebooks I have and none show a silver finish XLR. The newest with this old connector is Nov 2011. By 2013 they had switched to the newer connector so maybe around 2012 they used a different finish which would accord with the four year age but definitely worth a question and maybe contacting AQ. Also I have never seen one in this box (should be a fabric inner box with a flock finish outer like the 0.5M one, again maybe things changed more recently but this is the finish of all the ones I have seen and owned)

The second 0.5M pair looks good and is I believe a dealer demo (that's why it has the little plastic sleeves on the male end). Again no issue but check if the seller is the first owner and where they got it from

An issue with WEL XLR cables with this termination is that the XLR plugs can become disconnected. They are cold welded (basically screwed tight) to connect and if someone twists the connector relative to the cable the connections can be broken. You can fix this by taking the cable apart, or of course send back to AQ for re-termination (about $250 if I recall)

So net net if you can make 0.5M work in your setup then go for the 0.5M one, and offer closer to 25% ($1500) as a start for negotiation