Best XLR IC's for around $300/pair?

I've been using Grover Huffman's SX balanced for some time now and I can tell you this is a great IC! Thru my rig I have great bass response, excellent mids and sparkling highs with excellent extensions thru out the entire audio range for me. The cables are very neutral have great speed and dynamics and don't hide bad recordings.

There's a pair of Acoustic Zen XLR Silver Reference II for sale here now. A bit over your price point but perhaps negotiable. They are nicely detailed without going too far and also do great with tonality and imaging/soundstaging. In short, a great all around, well balanced, and neutral interconnect. Best of luck.

You can also typically pick up a set of Harmonic Technology Pro Silway II's for about $200 a pair in XLR's. Quite a nice cable.

Try making your own using Furutech FA-220 wire and CF carbon filter terminations. You may be surprised.

I use 2 pairs of AQ XLR Diamondbacks bought used. My preamp to amp run is XLR but not balanced, and Mogamis from Guitar Center (seemed like a good idea since I've used their mic cables for years) sounded extremely harsh in that position (note I have Mogami Neglex from my TT and they're fine) so they were returned to the knucklehead store (manager says to me: "You don't need break-in since they're pure copper"...OK then). The Diamondbacks are a neutral sounding bargain and an extremely well put together cable...solid core with tough XLR plugs...I use a run from my DAC to "balanced in" on my preamp also. Bungees...they're bungees...