Need a very neutral interconnect-

Zd it seems your definition and Bo's are a bit at odds, I guess this just adds to the confusion. Bo seems to be saying, and I certainly get this point, that it allows us to hear greater separation of voice and instruments, a greater palpaple sense of their place in the recording which would certainly contribute to a more dimensional illusion providing it's on the recording. Certainly I can hear this effect to a greater degree by changing to a better ic and speaker cable. Your description is a bit more focused on dynamic range and a clean top end, could you explain a bit what you mean in how it relates to "blacks" or as Bo describes separating instruments rather than the sound being more congealed?

For the most part I think many probably the vast majority of cables are purposely designed to sound a specific way in line with what the designer likes that probably have little to do with neutrality. So far as the neutrality of cables, it seems the ones I like best have smaller conducters. I don't want a "warmer, richer" sound but more accurate and natural presentation of the recording. You can't know which one is best for your application without listening to many. The best I've heard to date that offer a coherency and separation and more realistic tonal rendition of instruments and voices are the Omega Micro line particularly when used as a system. Unfortunately they are fragile and as you move up the line, thinner ribbons and less dialectric, they get more expensive but better still, the less is more approach and it is clearly audible even to cynics. THESE are very natural and have the effect in a system of a major component upgrade, at least the 4 systems I've heard them in.

So now I'm NOT an idiot? So confusing...anyway...None of the "high end" salons in my Near Boston area had a din cable to fit my Akito arm. Lame but true. The Jelco cable looked great (Ebay) and has a well made gold din plug, nice gold RCAs, and says "Neglex 2434" on its pink (!) skin...it seems to be able to get electrons from my table to the preamp in decent shape, and if a much more expensive cable would do a better job of this I will never know because I'm perfectly happy with this one. Maybe I AM an idiot.

I define "Blacks" as a slightly darker and thicker air around individual acoustic images in open (natural and pleasant) sound stage. This helps to see/identify acoustic images clearer. It's not like a halo/haze (bad! you don’t want that!) which is the outline of acoustic images but more like background. Blacks make background quieter that the sound stage is not confused with many objects in sight. Blacks can be small just around images or huge to cover whole back ground. Some cables or gears have very dark background such as early Mark Levinson gears which famous for quiet and silky black background.

I have XLO type 5 and type 5.1 speaker cables. They are identical in the sound stage, resolution, and imaging. However, Type 5 sounds slightly darker around acoustic images, and Type 5.1 sounds natural and transparent that you see through the sound stage like nothings there which makes easy to see the picture on the back wall. Theoretically, Type 5.1 is the better cable. I choose XLO type 5.1 speaker cables for my home 2ch sound system because my room is acoustically pretty dead and the back wall is dark. This makes the pleasant sound more stand out from the dark back ground. I choose type 5 cable for my studio set up because my studio is acoustically live/bright and the back wall is with 2 big glass windows. This darker background helps to see/hear acoustic images without interference from bright surroundings.

I have an extra Type 5.1 cable that you can compare both cables at my Los Angeles studio. Also, I have few isolation devices you can hear the difference.

A background lacking hifi reproduction gear generated noise is all this should mean. I want to hear the glass clinking Madmen era laughing drunk ass NY crowd at the Bill Evans show...or the cool man low hum of anticipation at a symphony...the room Yo Yo used for his solo Bach. Otherwise you can keep your dead background, and add "black" to the lexicon of useless audio terms invented by reviewers...like "speed" and "PRAT". I'm stickin' with "alive" and "ambient" and "warm" in my listening room...dead will be here soon enough.