I prefer Mogami 2534. Great with Neutrik XLR. 2549 makes sense when used with Amphenol RCA. With them make sure that shield is only attached to receiving end.
Mogami Gold w/Neutrik I don't know if it makes much of a difference. imo it's the circuit topography and cable configuration that make any difference, not the materials.
I use Mogami 2549 terminated with Neutrik Gold XLR cables in my system. I have several Transparent Musiclink and Musiclink Plus currently unused in a drawer. The sound of all cables I tried is exactly the same, not the least minuscule difference between any of them. The Mogami are less stiff and don't have that embarassing box along the cable, so they stay.
I have tried both 2534 and 2549 in xlr and rca, they both sounded so similar it really did not matter. I just left the 2549 hooked up been a year now sounds great. Xlr sounded best to me in either wire, due to system being pretty much all balanced connections
So do I. Because of the long run, only one dealer was willing to get me samples of an "audiophile" cable on approval. I've told the story before here, so I'll summarize. In four single-blinded tests with friends who are musicians, composers, and/or advanced audiophiles, the conclusion was unanimous: the expensive cable colored the treble in an unpleasant way, while the Mogami with Neutriks was as @Helom said:
You are right. There is no difference in listening tests. But in measurements noise level improved about 5dB. But that level was below -130dBu for both, if it matters.
Judging by the product "professional audio guys" are turning out, I'm not sure their opinion matters much to me.
People have been purporting that balanced connections are only worth considering for long cable runs for almost as long as I've been active in this hobby. After trying balanced cables in the late 80s at the insistence of my dealer, I became a balanced system believer. While I agree that balanced cables have more benefit for longer connections, equipment that is truly balanced provides a noticeable improvement in dynamic range (lower noise floor, improved detail, etc.) compared to unbalanced equipment, and balanced connections allow the full benefits to be realized. I do believe that the differences in balanced cables are less obvious than RCA cables (assuming truly balanced connections), but from my experience, they are far from non-existent. My current system uses 7M cables between the preamp and monoblock power amps. I prefer to keep my speaker cables as short as possible and the use of balanced cables allows my to have all the rest of my equipment on a rack on the side wall - not between the speakers. The longer XLR cable makes it easier to appreciate the differences. I tried six different cables before I found one that I was fully satisfied with. These included the standard Blue Jeans cable, DIY cables made with Mogami 2497, DH Labs Pro Studio, Parts Connexion "The Natural", Neotech NEI-3001 MkIII, and finally Iconoclast 4x4 UP-OCC. The Iconoclast cable was considerably more expensive than the other cables, but no where near as expensive as other premium cables in a 7M length. But this cable provided improved detail and dynamics, smoother mids and highs, and a nice improvement to sound stage depth and placement precision. Of the cables I tried, the DH Labs Pro Studio was my second favorite, and "The Natural" was my least. I also am using a 1M Iconoclast cable between my DAC and Preamp. In this shorter length, the differences were much less noticeable, but still a modest improvement over the other cables I tried (in this case also including DH Labs Revelation which was not that much less expensive). The big downside of Iconoclast XLR cable is that it is seriously stiff. You need to allow room behind your equipment to bend the cable, and even twisting the connector 180 degrees is difficult with a short (1M) length. That said, this is a very nice sounding cable, and Iconoclast includes a ton of technical information about the cable and the design choices they made.
Mogami 2497 is not suitable for balance connection. It is coax type cable, not balanced or star-quad which you should use. .
I must have miss-remembered the model number. The one I used was had two conductors plus shield - maybe 2549? I can't find the receipt and no longer have the cable.
Not Audible at that point, so for me a none issue. No one would ever hear or notice that pretty much in any system. My system is dead quite, I have to put my ear literally almost within a couple of inches of the speaker to hear the faintest of a hiss.
Perfect example of how measurements are just that, measurements. Its all about if we like what the cables do with our system and what we hear or think we hear. But what do I know, I'm just another guy who just likes listening to music. I have been known to do some tweeking, like reading and messing around with hardwired internet signal and cables and how it affects sound quality, want to talk about rabbit hole lol.
The Iconoclast cables are really nice, and compared to many others not that expensive for the performance you get. While their interconnects are great, it was their speaker cables that ultimately made the most difference. JohnK
Better sense of timing, leading edge of notes less smeared (for example, the tick of a drum stick hitting a cymbal is more clearly separate from the ring of the cymbal), instruments inhabiting more of their own space and air, more solid soundstage, just more expansion of everything. The cables are designed with the goal of maintaining phase coherence of the signal, which to my ears has multiple benefits. If you have some time (LOTS of time) you can read through the thread below, examine the designer's goals, methods and published papers, and even pose questions to him. Belden ICONOCLAST Interconnects and Speaker Cabling JohnK
I tried the Iconoclast SPTPC speaker cables. They sounded a bit different than the cables I was using at the time (DIY from GR-Research kit), but I didn't find them to be an improvement so I sent them back. I ended up finding a used pair of Kimber Select KS-3035 which were a better match to my system and tastes. I probably should have tried one of the other copper formulations from Iconoclast - from what I've read they sound noticeably different. But I'm really happy with the Kimber cable.
Update of the previous post: It's been 2+ months since I made my Silver balanced XLR cables. I used Audioquest Silver solder in the connection. The cables are periodically in operation between the cd player (Rotel CDP-1570) and the preamplifier (Primare). They are not necessary for me, because my CD player is also connected to the Atoll DAC300 with a Canare 75 Ohm coax cable, but I still made them and connected them to the system. I use this balanced connection occasionally, when I'm not using the Atoll DAC. The cables prove to be very nicely balanced, great stereo stage and imaging. In short - I have no complaints.
