This is an XLR cable that sells for CAD $180 (USD $145) for a 3ft pair. However, you can save CAD $26 (USD $21) if you shorten the length to 2ft, which is what you should choose if this is being used as an interconnect from a DAC to an amp, and the two components are stacked or next to each other. 2ft is the length I bought.
I'm firmly in the camp that you shouldn't spend a fortune on cables, and that cables should cost less than 10% of your system. But as the combined retail value of my DAC, amp, and headphones is over $5000, I figured I could try a "better" XLR cable than the $15 Monoprice pair I was using. Let's get this out of the way now: I couldn't hear a difference between these cables and the Monoprice cables. Review over, right? Well, not exactly.
Take Five Audio posts measurements of all of their cables they sell. The reason to consider the NEMOI-3220 is that it measures better than the industry-standard Mogami cables when it comes to capacitance, inductance, and resistance (lower is better). This is thanks to the NEMOI-3220's unique rectangular copper conductor geometry. Take Five Audio sells more expensive cables than these, but the NEMOI-3220 actually measures better than them. It probably also measures better than other boutique cables that cost way more. Does that translate into better sound? At such short lengths, absolutely not. But compared against the Monoprice cable, the NEMOI-3220 is much thicker due to its additional shielding, and the Neutrik XLR connectors are more durable than the suspicious low-grade connectors on the Monoprice. The thickness does make it less flexible than other cables, but it will still bend enough to act as a suitable DAC to amp interconnect.
Minor quibbles: If you buy a pair, the cables will be color-coded, so if you don't want this, you must make that a special request. Upon visual inspection, one of the XLR cables had a small dimple on the exterior covering, but this hasn't affected performance. Still, for this much money, I expected a visually flawless cable, and so I'll deduct half a star for that.
CONCLUSION
Paying this much for a short XLR interconnect might seem a bit excessive, but at least the measurements back it up, and I wanted to support a local Canadian business during the difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the very least, this seems like a logical stopping point before the deep-end insanity of cables that cost thousands of dollars. To put it into perspective, a pair of Take Five Audio NEMOI-3220 XLR cables is still cheaper than some of the competition's cheapest XLR cables: AudioQuest's Red River ($175), Nordost's White Lightning ($200), or Siltech's Explorer 180ix ($725).
