The Big Boys vs. the Little Guys

Time for another cable thread. We all know who the big boys on the block are with cables: Nordost, Transparent, Monster *cough*, Cardas, Siltech, Kimber ... and others.

Then there are cables made by the "little guys" -- guys who design and hand-make their own cables ... like Randy Bear of Bear Labs, USA, and Jaap Gunter of Lieder Cables, in The Netherlands ... and I'm sure there are others ... like Granite Audio.

What do you think of the big boys vs. the little guys in terms of quality and VALUE? I know it's hard -- even a little stupid (hey, I can be like that!) to lump the large companies together and compare them against the small companies ... but I wonder if we can find a "golden thread" here and find some appropriate generalizations.

I'll weigh in with my own comments, based of course on my own experience, later ... first, I'd like to hear about your experiences. Thanks for your input!