Just last year I bought a $3,100 XLR cable.
Seven meter Kimber KS1116
For that money you could get a preamp with high output (around 18 volts vs the regular 2 volts). A better higher output component will be unaffected by either the type of XLR cable and/or length. Usually it is interconnect capacitance that affects weak low cost consumer (low-fi) gear resulting in less dynamics. RCA is terrible but of course no serious audiophile would ever use RCA.
Again it is sad to see folks misplacing blame on interconnects when it is the components that are at fault for any audible degradation.
Seven meter Kimber KS1116
For that money you could get a preamp with high output (around 18 volts vs the regular 2 volts). A better higher output component will be unaffected by either the type of XLR cable and/or length. Usually it is interconnect capacitance that affects weak low cost consumer (low-fi) gear resulting in less dynamics. RCA is terrible but of course no serious audiophile would ever use RCA.
Again it is sad to see folks misplacing blame on interconnects when it is the components that are at fault for any audible degradation.