Lots of great cables out there and really none of us are going to be much help. If you don’t have a local dealer(s) with variety you can try at home then it makes it more difficult. Buying used is a safe bet playing Russian roulette because if you don’t like you can resale at little to no loss. I’ve had very good luck reaching out to cable manufactures that were not in my local area and they were great to work with and will send you some demos to make sure you like their cables and sometimes they have show demo wires they’ll sale at a discount.
Nothing wrong with the big names; they spend a lot on engineering but marketing as well. Obviously working with some of these companies directly is probably not going to happen, although many years ago we didn’t have Kimber locally and I called and spoke to Ray Kimber and bought from him which when my cables arrived they had in a box of Pepperidge Farm Cookies inside as well. Dealer shortly picked them up after I brought my cables in and shared my story.
All depends on what sounds right to you and what you’re looking for. Good luck.
Nothing wrong with the big names; they spend a lot on engineering but marketing as well. Obviously working with some of these companies directly is probably not going to happen, although many years ago we didn’t have Kimber locally and I called and spoke to Ray Kimber and bought from him which when my cables arrived they had in a box of Pepperidge Farm Cookies inside as well. Dealer shortly picked them up after I brought my cables in and shared my story.
All depends on what sounds right to you and what you’re looking for. Good luck.