Is shielding cables that important?

Years ago I had this Kimber,KAGC /I thing those are the letters/ anyway,it's the braided no shielded cable.I never had a problem. Albert;when you're driving those soundlabs;you should have those seat belts on;air bags/ optional.

Van Den Hul makes cables both ways. "The First" cables are unshielded. "The Second" cables are basically the same construction but shielded. "The First" performs better in most opinions, so the shielding must have an effect on the sound.

I agree with Sugarbrie about the VDH cables, that was my observation as well. Same is true with the Kimber PBJ vs. their KC-1. Most reviewers seem to feel that the PBJ sounds better. If what you've got works well, I wouldn't worry about it at this point.

No need really to give my two cents worth, except for my experience with various XLO cables as well as the VDH's, mentioned above. I always preferred the sound of the unshielded cables, whenever I could safely use them in my system. ( More openess, more dynamics, better "bloom", better highs with the unshielded XLO's using mostly tubed gear )

Shielding isn't actually effective at blocking all frequencies anyway. If you are really concerned about high frequency noise, a combination of braiding and sheilding probably the way to go.

The theory is that the cables that are unsheilded sound better because they allow the signal to generate a fuller magnetic field around (outside of) the cable. The sheilding can retard the fields of the actual signal, just like it does for external noise.

I use sheilded cables for digital and video. Unsheilded for audio.