I wanted to post the outcome of my XLR cable audition. Let me start by saying that my wife and I have always been cable skeptics, at least to the extent that any differences are just differences, and not necessarily "right or wrong". We're also both engineers, which probably doesn't help with believing subjective sound over hard analytical or construction differences.
Cables auditioned were:
Cullen Crossover XLR (baseline)
Kimber Hero XLR
Purist Audio Genesis XLR
Shunyata Venom XLR
Wireworld Eclipse 7 XLR
All of the cables were pure copper (some "high purity", some OCC), with the exception of the silver plated copper Cullen. List prices ranged from $180 to $450 per meter pair.
We set up a double-blind audition process. I knew which cables we had received, what they cost, and what sonic qualities they were purported to have. She knew none of this. She put each model cable in a different shoebox, and she did the cable swapping. All I did pick which shoebox to use next when it was time to switch ("let's listen to Adidas now"), and I left the room while swapping cables. We used the same roughly hour-long playlist for each audition, and matched volume levels as closely as possible after each switch. This convoluted process may seem like overkill or even counterproductive to some, but the internal engineer was worried about confirmation bias, so we chose to eliminate that. The only non-double-blind part of the test was when our baseline cables were selected from a box (she knew which cables we already owned, of course), but that was only on her side, not mine. Listening notes were kept independently and only compared after hearing all of the cables. Since I knew what cables we had on hand, I took a stab at playing "name that cable" based on what I'd heard.
Anyway, the results of 10 days of listening were quite interesting. In the end, we each independently selected the same cables as the clear "best" and "worst". The ones in the middle were a little less clear, but the objective notes were actually fairly similar between us, just the subjective interpretation of "better or worse" was in question. The results of me trying to identify each cable based on the marketed or reported sonic properties were sobering - I got very few correct. One cable in particular I was convinced was our baseline "bad" cable that started this whole thing. I was wrong, though the baseline cable did end up being the consensus loser. Perhaps more interesting (more concerning?!) was that the most expensive cable was unanimously declared best, and the least expensive worst. Remember this was double blind.
So what did we end up liking most? Wireworld Eclipse 7. Is that because it completes a single-brand line-level loom in our system (i.e. synergy)? Get what you pay for? Real benefit to the different internal wire geometry? Don't know, but frankly it doesn't matter - it sounds the best in our system of the cables we were able to audition. Maybe there are more benefits to be gained at a higher price point, but at this point in time, I'm not willing to explore $1000+ interconnects, and am happy with the improvements gained so far.
As a side note, the Cable Company guys also put a "garden hose" style power cord in the box for me to audition, as they felt gains could be made in this area even if it wasn't the focus of my project (VooDoo Ultra Wave, if you're curious). I'm even more of a skeptic of the merits of power cords than interconnects, so it was treated as a side project or curiosity. We listened to it up front with the baseline cables, and weren't convinced we'd heard any real difference. After settling on the Wireworld interconnects, we tried the power cord again. This time there was a noticeable difference in sound. The best way I can describe the difference is that it was an energy and emotion based change. Our familiar (and by now tired) playlist suddenly sounded more lively and interesting, though I can't say I heard a difference in frequency extension or clarity. Soundstaging and air seemed better. Swapping back to our default power cord (which was a not inexpensive 10-ga silver plated copper item selected primarily because I needed a low-profile 90-degree AC plug and these folks were willing to make one that way), the newfound energy was missing again. My wife had the same impressions, and said words to the effect of "dammit" (in the sense that now there's something else to spend money on, and we frankly didn't want to hear a difference).
New interconnects have been ordered. Power cords will have to wait a while, but apparently are on the radar now...
