XLR cables that sound bold, natural, real..silver?

Third the AZ Silver Reference II. Detailed but still natural sounding with good tonal properties unlike some silver cables. The original Silver References weren't bad either if you can score a good deal on them, but the IIs are a little more refined. I'm interested in the Huffman ICs as well so would be interested in your thoughts on those. Best of luck.

+1 for the AZ. I have Silver Ref II which I was very happy with for years. I moved up to the Absolutes and in my system I like them better than Zitron Pythons I was using. More natural, more realistic with no loss of extension in either the low or high end. Fantastic presentation of space. The only thing the Zitrons had over the Absolutes was arguably a tighter control in the low end. It was vise-like. But that wasn't enough to counter the Absolutes.

The SR II has many of the same qualities relative to its cost. PM me if you think you'd like to try them.

Hi I promised to post an update so here is what I ended up comparing with my impressions

1. Neotech NEI-3001 - what I had - smooth, warm mids, I confirmed its limitations are that it's not the most detailed in both frequency extremes.

2. Audio Sensibility Statement Silver - excellent construction with awesome Furutech connectors - very impressive mids and treble, detailed and smooth, but lost some oomph and ultimate detail in the bass and sub-bass compared to the Audience.

3. Nordost Baldur 1 - a balanced sound, but didn't really stand out as better at anything in particular than any of the other cables.

4. Audience AU24 - very similar reactions to their speaker cable, which I also own - it's got everything, palpable presence with vocals, but this uncanny, confident low bass which is detailed, arresting, and addicting. Don't know how they do it but their products just seem to suit my equipment and my tastes almost perfectly. Just so expensive...

5. Grover Huffman - really, really late shipping cause Grover went on vacation right after i placed my order, but I'm very impressed and very surprised -- this is a real eye-opening, musical cable, PRaT is up the wazoo. It has a forward, propulsive sound that I like. It needs more burn in, though (only been able to put 50 hours on it so far), cause it can't match the Audience in the bass...yet?

Leaning heavily towards the Audience AU24E or SE, but will give the Huffman's about another week before deciding. In terms of value, they offer incredible performance.