Pete:
Thanks again for your insight. I will go to the dealer and try another cable this weekend. If it turns out that in my application single ended in (RCA) to the DAC sounds best, that’s fine by me. The sound and emotive experience is brilliant. I am really happy with the purchase.
Best regards,
Rich
I use a Network bridge connected with a single aes xlr cable to my TAD dac. I have not tried rca as my dealer and some other customers that have the same setup thougt aes sounded best so I went along with that.
Today I use a noname aes xlr but will recieve cables from Audio Envy in the coming weeks both digital and analog xlr.
Hi;
Thanks for the feedback. I am going to test another AES cable. For now in my system, RCA sound significantly better.
Best,
Rich
Brought the new AES cable back to the dealer, played on their DCS system, very poor sound quality, turns out it is defective, cable going back to audioquest.
New AES cable sounds great, picked up a synergistic research.
Hi Pete:
the cable was defective, new AES cable problem solved, sounds better than my old RCA.
best,
Rich
Glad to hear that you like the cable that you are currently using and a shame that the other was faulty.
One thing : some cables can change their sound somewhat over the first several hours of use. There are various explanations for this none of which seem to be technically satisfactory but the effect seems real enough to me. I would reserve your final decision until you have used it for a period.
Nice to hear that the problem got solved 
That’s hilarious! 
FWIW here, I am a big fan of the Belden-based Iconoclast analog XLR (and speaker) cables. And I’ve tried way more cables than I like to admit. They started as in-house home cooking by a Belden engineer named Galen Gareis, who became convinced of the audible effects of different cable construction methods and their LCR relationships. I learned of them over at the PS Audio forum and was able to demo them in my home speaker and headphone systems. I bought them after a week of listening and comparing to other cables I owned. After a couple of years seeking a way to get small-scale production going, an arrangement was struck with Blue Jeans to assemble the cables to spec. I now get almost all my cables from BJC, both the expensive and less expensive ones, with the recent addition of Geistnote, whose Apogee Wide Eye digital cables have been a very pleasant discovery courtesy of this forum.
Looking to resurrect this thread.
I have a Bartok on order which will be exclusively used in a headphone system and wish to connect an external Stax headphone amplifier to it as well. In this forum DCS has confirmed that balanced XLR will provide a better output than RCA.
Even though I am located in the States I currently use a full loom of Chord Co. cables in my full Naim/Linn system - Chord Music to be specific.
I am not looking to spend 3-5000 gbp for more Chord Music or Sarum cables. Any suggestions on what can be used? What are some of the more popular XLR cables people are using for the Bartok/Rossini XLR outputs?
PaleRider - I have taken note of the Iconoclast recommendation above - however possibly looking at something slightly more economical than $2-3000.
Try Mogami 2579 or 2534 with Neutrik XLRs
What I use Bartok > ATC actives, incredible VFM
It’s also PS Audio recommendation: www.psaudio.com/article/how-to-make-a-50-high-end-xlr-interconnect/
IMHO balanced connections don’t need high end expensive cables, unlike for speakers
Thanks for that.
Where can one find already made Mogami cables (in the States). A Google ok not seems to turn up wire
Ah - just found 2534 on Amazon
$29.99?
Are we sure about this?
Excuse the question however a bit differently priced from my Chord Sarum or Music cable?
Lower cost is what you asked for
Good news it won’t break the bank to find out; only way to be sure
Even better arrange a blind test against those
Balanced cables are totally different to single-ended
Mogami and Canare are what engineers use in professional studios to record your favourite albums
Not saying my choice is the last word in balanced cables; I’m sure someone else will pitch in here
Makes sense. As I also mentioned earlier I would wholeheartedly recommend Blue Jeans Cable for reasonably priced, well-made cables, even if only to have as a backup.
Well, home-cooking one’s own cables is a great suggestion, and a method about which a PS Audio employee has written a very good article on their website. But if one were to peruse the PSA forums, it’s not the cables that Paul McGowan and others in the company have used and recommended. It’s just another option that PSA, which is a very customer-centric company, has suggested for those who don’t want to get invested in their cables as an alternative to a college fund. 
I have done a ton of DYI in my audio history (from kits to complete DIY electrostatic speakers), and one of the big reasons I did it was not just to save money, but also for the pleasure of making something that I could enjoy using. But I am now at a point where my time and certainty of outcome are more important to me. So, if DIY floats you’re boat, go for it. But when BJC is offering 4-foot Belden or Canare with Neutrik connectors for $30/pair, it’s tough to beat the price. I have a couple of those as backups for whenever I might need them.
Good luck with your search!
Maybe, but that doesn’t mean that they are better than simply good/acceptable as studios buy cables by the kilometre ( or even several kilometres) at a time . A great if expensive cable that a domestic enthusiast may buy and find affordable by the metre is economically out of the question for studios.
For example I have recommended in the past a cable that is used throughout Abbey Road and the BBC ( as well as the majority of studios in Europe). It is good and still recommendable but it can be bettered albeit at several times the price. Is that price premium affordable by dCS customers ( I am talking of a move from tens to low hundreds of $ per metre)?
well - I have Chord MUSIC cables in my Naim rig however I am not interested in spending another 5k GBP for a cable which will connect a $5k Stax headphone amplifier to my incoming Bartok. Even Chord Sarum I do not want to consider as the cable costs the same as the amplifier (!)
The Mogami and Canare sound good however it just seems difficult to believe that they can approach something like the Chords or others. Surely there has to be something of a compromise cable.
Are people really using $30 cables together with $15,000 Bartoks and $25,000 Rossini’s - not to mention a $100k Vivaldi? If so I suggest DCS consider entering the cable business just like Naim did years ago. Naim always included cables in the box and got tired of seeing their customers move on to Chord, Vertere etc. Hence the birth of the first HiLine and then the SuperLumina line of cables.
PS Blue Jeans Cables - Ethernet 6a all the way on my Linn Klimax DS !
Glevethan, I think the answer is probably “yes, they are,” though I think there are reasons why some $30 cables are quite different from others. I’m not necessarily advocating that they should, but an awful lot of high-end listeners reject the whole cable madness. It can and does get out of hand. I believe cables can and do make a difference, and that the more resolving your equipment, the more likely you are to be able to appreciate them. But each consumer has to decide what that final 1%/.1%/.01% is worth to them. I just can’t hear the difference between $50 clock cables and $2k clock cables. At least, I couldn’t in the showroom; maybe over time, but I doubt it.
Conversely, I think your suggestion is an excellent idea.
I use Audio Envy cables between my dCS and TAD equipment. The O’nestian 4:4 is a analog xlr (I use this between dac and amp) but it is also available as a digital one (I use this between Network bridge and dac) with the same look.
I know @PAR also bought a bunch of them for his system.
On the contrary, I think dCS should continue to focus exclusively on developing the platforms to ensure as minimal impact from cables as possible, rather than trying to get into the Cable business!
Just as @Andrew mentions further up in this thread, I think people tend to forget that how a cable “sounds” depends on the electrical characteristics of the Source, the Load, and the cable. It’s not magic.
Take the Vivaldi DAC for example, it has an XLR output impedance of merely 3-Ohms! Contrast that to, say an MSB Reference DAC which has an output impedance of 150-Ohms, or the EMM Labs DAC with it’s 300-Ohms; which platform(s) do you think has a higher susceptibility/sensitivity to varying cable characteristics?
In my view, cable spend it totally subjective, but should be commensurate with the system’s value to you (not cost). I use Argento cables for my Vivaldi stack, and Oyaide cables for my Bartok.
Wow - it has been an interesting learning experience googling the interwebs last night. Thank you for the replies. It seems that the world of analogue XLR interconnects is quite different from the world of cables I am used to in Naim land.
A few people on the Naim forum replied with similar budget priced cables as well. Since I am located in the States one of the recommendations was Canare from Benchmark -
Pale rider - Iconoclast cables from BlueJean - which generation 1 or 2? And which cable stock? There seem to be quite a few choices.
Octaviars - Audio Envy - since they are here in the States I will have to look at them. He is based in Ft. Collins - good pedigree as it is where the “man with the golden ears” lives. He is responsible for introducing the States to NAIM 30 years ago!
Anupc - Argento cables - beautiful however just a little bit on the pricey side 
then again for a Vivaldi they make sense. And I thought that my 5000 gbp Chord MUSIC cable on my Linn was expensive (!)
Which Oyaide are you using on your Bartok?
Someone on the Naim forum mentioned that he heard DCS was using Atlas Mavros cables from Scotland. Any truth to this?