Belden 8402, 8412, and 8428

I have "full looms" of both the 8402 and 8428 and prefer the 8428 myself. Just "better" and less colored (but both are way less colored than Duelund or WE).

I was also curious about trying the 8408 as well but it's really thick and won't fit in most RCA connectors.

@sfoclt - I agree with your impressions.  However, in my case, the cables are all balanced with the shield connected to pin 1 at both ends, the same as most commercially manufactured balanced cables.

I have the 8408 in route and will report on how they sound, how they compare to the 8428, and whether there are similarities between the 8408 and 8402, which differ only in wire gauge.

Just for grins I ordered a nice set of custom built 8402 interconnects with great ends to give them a true evaluation vs several other cables I have. Tried them for 4 weeks, and passed them along to a friend to give them a whirl. He’s passed on them now too, he's using Audio Sensibility instead for his other budget system. They were worth about what i paid for them. Just okay, nothing special for me. 

If there is a much better version of Belden, might try that later too just for fun. More into pure copper and not a fan of tinned copper as much. Would like to see more/other tests of some of the boutique value-price cable makers vs. Belden to help those exploring value cables or for those building 2nd, 3rd systems fwiw.

I wouldn't argue with those who believe the tinned copper wire colors the sound.  I have tried the 8204 before and thought it to be just ok, but I had just enough extra coiled up that I could make the lengths I needed for a complete set (2@2M and 1@0.5M) and then reading about it brought me to the 8428, which seems to be somewhat of an improvement.  Then I saw the 8408 and thought what the heck, go big or go home.

In the end I will compare the tinned Belden to my Furutech u-P2.1 cables, which may not be what most consider to be at the very top of the line but the quality is hard to argue with: two strands of 19 awg fine stranded (alpha) OCC wire, with foamed polyethylene insulation, cotton fillers, and a copper braid shield, plus a durable, flexible, outer cover.

The only thing better than finding a thread posing and answering exactly the questions you're looking for is realizing that if you'd searched for it two weeks prior, it wouldn't have existed.  

One of the main criteria for any system of mine is always solidity and tonal density,  which can be challenging to achieve without overly rounding things off.  For ICs I'd settled on Anticables the last few years, but I bought a pair of 8402 last summer and now my interest in this rabbit hole is again piqued. 

I'm very happy with the 8402 running out of the phono pre but they didn't work as well from other sources and that's because of the music itself.  As it happens, all the records in my meager collection are either relaxing listens or acoustic instrumentation or both, and the texture and color from the 8402 play very well to that.  When I'm playing CDs or streaming, though, I'm more likely to be listening to something that requires zippier transients, has more expansive soundstaging, or needs firmer foundations than the 8402 provides.

I'm definitely going to build a second pair with a lifted ground to see if that minor addition of air and speed will help but figured while I'm at it, why not find a few other options to make and compare.  Go big or go home, as you say.

Thanks for this thread and I'm looking forward to your further findings.