XLR cables for a reasonable price?

I agree with you that internal components are critical but I posit that the external components, such as cables are also important.  

I recall a discussion in the 90s about speaker cables.  The question was most speakers used cheap, thin wire internally to the drivers as well as fairly inexpensive components in the crossovers.  So what was the point of buying expensive speaker cables?

That led me to rewire my fairly expensive speakers at the time.  I rewired them with Monster Cable (the good stuff and boy did it solder easily- thick wire made up of hair sized strands) and used some small film caps as bypass caps on the electrolytics.  It improved the sound some- but not as much as good speaker cables, as I recall.  I don't understand how or why that is.

One question- and it is a valid one is what balanced cables do professional recording use on their microphones?  Is it basic XLR cabling?  That's what many on this forum say.  Studios do not spring for high dollar cabling.  On the other hand, what do some audiophile studios such as David Wilson, Reference Recordings or Chesky Records, etc use?  I have some of those records and they sound really good.

Just tried the Mogami Neglex 2534 Balanced Cables that you can buy on Amazon for under $100 terminated with nice Neutrik XLR's. They come in various lengths for not much money.

They are a very nice cable.

I have used both Mogami and Canare Cables for both interconnects (RCA and XLR) and Canare for speaker cables especially their 4S11's in a biwired configueration.

I saw this thread a couple of days ago and didn't have anything to add since I make most of my own cables.  

I just bought a streamer that needed an AES/EBU cable.  I wanted silver plated for digital and so I ordered cable and connectors from DH labs.  made the cable up and was very impressed, not just with the quality of the cable as I assembled it but also with the obvious improvement in sound quality.

I decided to search the forum here for DH Labs and found page after page of positive comments, going all the way back to 2000.  I don't know when Audiogon started but probably not much before then.  Very solid and consistent praise.  

I will also add that the people at DH Labs were great to deal with.

Looks like the Silver Pulse cable is a bit more than $100 a pair ($180) but think they will compete favorably with cables much more expensive.  

Jerry

And then there's the fourth way, which I think may be the most common: use an operational amplifier. ("Op-amp.") They can be fully discrete, and seem to be the approach used by many, such as ARC, for example.

@cleeds  Opamps can generate a balanced output easily enough, but not one that is floating. The output of any opamp is single-ended, so to hear it, the other connection is ground. So to do a balanced output, you'd need at least 2 opamps, each generating a single-ended output, one out of phase with the other. Each referencing ground, so no, this won't support the standard. But it is balanced. An output transformer or our direct-coupled output section both produce an output that is floating.

To use a chip based solution, you need something like this, a balanced line driver IC, which is also floating.

I agree with you that internal components are critical but I posit that the external components, such as cables are also important.  

I recall a discussion in the 90s about speaker cables.  The question was most speakers used cheap, thin wire internally to the drivers as well as fairly inexpensive components in the crossovers.  So what was the point of buying expensive speaker cables?

To be clear, I've never stated that speaker cables are not important. They are, IMO, IME. Because they can be critical (especially if you are running lower impedance loads, like 4 Ohms) its best to keep them as short as possible. To this end I keep my amps right by the speakers and run long interconnects. That way I can have the equipment stand for the front end of the system where I want it rather than forced to sit between the speakers. Since RCA cables can and do impose a sound of their own (which is bad) to minimize colorations due to cables, having long balanced interconnects and short speaker cables makes a lot of sense, especially if the associated equipment supports the balanced standard.

atmasphere

Opamps can generate a balanced output easily enough, but not one that is floating.

Correct. And I know you are really focused on the AES48 balanced standard, because you keep mentioning it. But you’ll just have to accept that many manufacturers use balanced, differential circuits in other ways, and they do so successfully.