Balanced XLR Interconnect Cables

Try Blue Jeans Cables.  It's also easy to make your own - there's a big thread on cable making in the DIY Forum.

Mogami is nice too, also very affordable.

That depends on who you talk to. You'll get opposite answers from Uncle Erik and myself. I believe that the difference between an XLR cable that costs $100 and one that costs $1,000 is not unlike the difference between CD players at similar price points. They both turn a spinning disc into sound reasonably well. Some may not be able to hear any difference between the two, but that doesn't necessarily mean that differences don't exist. $100 CD players and $1,000 CD players are all not created the same, and it's the same with cables. There could be a $100 CD player that's a stone cold bargain and sounds fantastic, and there could also be a $1,000 CD player that uses junk parts in a fancy box and sounds mediocre. That kind of thing happens all the time in fact, there are some big names selling glorified T-amps and gainclones in boxes that cost thousands of dollars. 

 

Power cables are even trickier. Just using 800 tons of copper and shielding as PS Audio used to doesn't work, you end up with a dull, sludgy sounding mess with the highs completely crushed. It takes finesse, and you have to match the right cord to the right component. Lots of experimentation.

 

The first thing you need to do is get your components in order. You should not be spending hundreds of dollars on cables if you have $150 headphones or speakers.

 

Monoprice.com make nice cables. I used 6 of their power cables.

Signal Cable's Silver Resolution balanced interconnect is $140 for a 3 foot pair. I don't know of anything that matches or exceeds it for less. Certainly nothing from the traditional companies comes close at that price. I think you need to spend a good $400 before you get something genuinely better.

 

For power cables, your best bet is the used market as you just don't get much from power cables over the stock stuff unless you're willing to spend several hundred. A good example is the Audio-Magic Sorcerer currently listed on Audiogon for $150. You just can't buy anything new at that price that's anywhere close to that.

 

I have Van Damme cables, albeit v. short ones which didn't cost a lot.

Proel die hard balanced cables superb quality for the price there better than the monoprice 1's I have there around $40 £25 depending on length.

Power cables the best you can get is 1-5% reduction in background noise with the shielded 1's and that purely depends on the device, I own a few and honestly couldn't tell them from the stock cords in a blind test unless I press my ear right up against the tweeter and set the amp to max volume with no signal by listening to the background noise I can just about tell the sheilded from the unsheilded, listening to my music normally there is 0 difference between any working power cord. Theres such subjective rubbish written about them like a gold plated plug sounds better than a silver plated plug how? thats completely impossible.
The best a power cable gets is shielded and twisted pair construction and any old connecters longs they work anything more is a even bigger complete waste of money its completly pointless.