A21+ is in da house...

As opposed to Erik, I prefer copper only cables and use the best solid-core copper I know of.  There are going to be 5-10 different opinions on what makes the best interconnect cable anyways, lol.  Choose what you will.  Erik's silver cable might be okay if you use some really warm gold-plated XLR connectors (like the Furutech gold-plated).

For my chosen design of cables, the cost of materials could be anywhere from about $150 to $730 for a 1 Meter pair, depending on what wire and XLR plugs you choose. For purposes of this discussion, I’ll show the lowest cost for a great cable:

To make a 1 meter pair, I usually cut 48” of wire. Because of braiding, you’ll lose about 12-15% of length, so it will drop down to about 40-41” after braiding.

24 feet of Neotech 20awg Teflon coated solid-core hookup wire ($41 from Sonic Craft)
http://www.soniccraft.com/product_info.php/neotech-solid-upocc-copper-in-teflon-20-awg-red-p-1588

couple different colors of 3/32” heatshrink:
http://www.soniccraft.com/index.php/polyolefin-21-c-157_159_431_435

2 Furutech FP-701M XLR Male plugs ($44 from Parts Connexion)
https://www.partsconnexion.com/FTECH-71065.html

2 Furutech FP-702F XLR Female plugs ($60 from parts Connexion).
https://www.partsconnexion.com/FTECH-71066.html



1. Cut the Neotech wire into lengths of 48” each (or whatever length you want)
2. Put a short length of heatshrink on the wire ends (both ends) to mark the wires since the Neotech only comes in red.  I usually do a black heatshrink for negative XLR pin and a green heatshrink for ground pin.
3. Solder three wires to one XLR plug (i.e. Male)
4. Braid the 3 wires all the way down.
5. Slide on the outer casing for that first XLR plug and screw together.
6. Slide on the outer casing for the second XLR plug down the wire somewhat.
7. Cut/strip the second end and solder onto second XLR plug (i.e. female)
8. Screw the outer casing parts together for second plug.

This $150 option uses the lower end Furutech XLR plugs, which are still very excellent and use gold-plated copper alloy pins. The Furutech gold-plated will give a very smooth and refined warm sound. If you want a higher resolution, you could always choose the Cardas XLR plugs or even the upper end Furutech rhodium plated XLR plugs. You can also do things like doubling up on the wire (two braids for 2x20awg for each XLR pin). Or use multiple gauges like 18awg + 21awg wire from VH Audio.

What do you feel is the warmest cable etc. 

If you want the warmest cable, then use the Furutech gold-plated XLR plugs with some low grade solid-core copper wire like below:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/20-AWG-Gauge-Solid-Hook-Up-Wire-Kit-25-ft-Each-0-0320-Dia-UL1007-300-Volts/371367212983?epid=2074478056&hash=item567735f7b7:g:238AAOSwd0BVuPFz:sc:USPSPriority!95377!US!-1

Keep it all gold-plated / copper.  This would be a very warm sounding cable I can imagine.  The gold-plated is already warm sounding and the low grade tinned copper wire will really roll off the high frequencies.  This would not normally be a cable I build, but it would still sound good because of the solid-core wiring.  It would just lack higher frequency resolution.  If you want even warmer with less highs, use a larger low grade 18awg solid core hookup wire.  The larger awg solid-core wire just cannot reproduce the higher frequencies.

From there, it goes up in resolution.  That Neotech OCC solid-core copper wire is hugely better than the cheap stuff and carries much more resolution, but it will still not be bright/harsh like silver.  20awg is the sweet spot for best bass and best high frequency resolution.  VH Audio has their "UniCrystal Cu AirLock" hookup wire that is better than the Neotech, but it's only available in 18awg and 21awg.

Silver wire/components will be faster with more attack and perceived resolution, but it's very easy to go over the line and the sound becomes artificial and non-engaging.  Silver can have a tendency to push the upper mids and can sound thin in the bass.  Some systems that are really warm / laid back can benefit with a little bit of silver.

In my mind, rhodium plated is the end game.  It gives much better high frequency extension than silver and it doesn't push the upper mids.  It's also very natural sounding (not like silver) and has incredible bass.  The downside is that Furutech rhodium can be really expensive and it takes a long time to burn in (300-400 hours).  The burn in process can be very painful and hard to listen to (many people have given up because they just can't listen to the hard edge of the burn in).

Wireworld Eclipse range is very warm, and trades top end detail for imaging.

Hi Erik.  I have had the Eclipe 7 XLR in my system.  It's a very nice cable and just very slightly laid back in sound (all the detail is there), but it is definitely not as warm sounding as the DIY cables I listed above.  The thick gold-plating on the Furutech XLR just give a warmer smoother sound than the silver-clad XLR of the Wire World.  Also, the Wire World uses very small 30awg strands aligned in a side-by-side array which gives better high frequency extension than the big 20awg solid-core above.  That being said, the Wire World is just a tiny bit soft and laid back in comparison to high resolution cables, but I would not call it really warm.  When compared to your silver cables, I can see where one could say the Eclipse is warm.