Belden ICONOCLAST XLR Cable Review

[Labjr]

Thanks to this thread I have been able to remedy a big problem with my system and lift some veils. I realized one of my silver interconnects was installed in the wrong direction, so it was taking the molecules longer align themselves in that cable (the interconnects are singles, so one per channel). The corresponding 0.000000001 millisecond of delay with respect to the other channel was causing all sorts of phase shifts. But now I have both interconnects installed in the same direction, and they are totally in sync. And I also now start the music 0.000000000001 milliseconds earlier than I used to, so no more initial timing delay! I am enjoying complete sonic bliss. My mother-in-law is speechless -- she just called from her overseas vacation to tell me she could hear a real improvement in my system (but of course I could not hear her because she was speechless). /s

The Cryogenic version is better. The molecules move even faster when they're frozen. The same thing happens when you stand outside in the winter without a jacket. You start to shiver and move faster.

 

[peniku8]

I've no idea how to rate something that works perfectly well but can be replaced with something else much cheaper that also works perfectly well.

Need the piggy bank panther.

Upon reflection:
It does its job, so not terrible. It costs a bunch, that isn't fine or great. So... not terrible.

Vote poor, because the cable is so expensive it makes people poor.

 

[Billy Budapest]

Vote poor, because the cable is so expensive it makes people poor.

That’s funny, but true.

I voted “not terrible” because I respect the engineering that went into the cable, even if it was all for naught.

 

[Spocko]

I'll just stick with my $12 Monoprice XLR cables

Copper works the same, but it's all about the connection around the plug, I have had 2 fail (no longer carry a signal) after about 6 months, thankfully, being cheap I had no qualms throwing them away, but I've since bought from Cable Matters for a few $ more.

 

[SubsonicLurker]

I have some of those and they don't null any better than the one's Amir tested. Don't null worse either.

Copper works the same, but it's all about the connection around the plug, I have had 2 fail (no longer carry a signal) after about 6 months, thankfully, being cheap I had no qualms throwing them away, but I've since bought from Cable Matters for a few $ more.

I haven't had any issues with mine, but I don't disconnect/reconnect them much either. You do know that the Monoprice cables have a lifetime warranty too, right?

 

[aschen]

Belden builds the wire, BJC puts the connectors on it and sells it through their online shopping cart. It seems to be the designer you have the beef with, not Belden or BJC.

I don't have beef with any of the parties really, but think they should be more thoughtful with who they associate with.

 

[MattHooper]

Fantastic! Thanks again Amir!

ASR tests have clearly been reverberating around the audiophile internet. You know many of the cable companies have taken notice.
Yet none of them are stepping up to say "Amir is measuring the wrong thing, here is the right thing to measure, and how to measure it..."
No counter demonstrations, no controlled listening tests to vet the claims. The silence, as they say, is deafening.

(And most of the comments I've seen "disputing" Amir's cable tests, including the recent cheapo RCAs, has been along the lines of mocking utterly empty of substance: "LOL, Amir thinks cheap RCA cables are fine and can't hear any difference between cables. Shows you how trustworthy he is!"

Keep on keepin' on, Amir!

 

[olderman]

That was a thorough job of testing. Thank you!

 

[Midwest Blade]

My faith in the ASR way is once again reconfirmed.
I do not hold Belden accountable here as they are only the supplier of a cable that is perfectly suitable, the issue comes down to the marketing by Iconoclast. But, if so called “golden ear audiophiles” claim to hear a difference, more power to them.
For the record I own and use BJC’s in my systems, happily.

 

[amirm]

I received a response from Galen to my review. I will post a link from the review to this post:

---------

Hi AMIR,

We got it exactly half right. We have a little distortion added in.

ICONOCLAST is designed to get ALL the typical variables optimized that we can MEASURE and CALCULATE, and not just Vp. We do hear TIME based changes to the EM wave. Pure resistive amplitude is a passive distortion. A cable that is resistive only would be ideal. ICONOCLAST is optimized to better is better electrical. To say ICONOCLAST is “only” about Vp propagation times (still very fast in any cable as it is the speed of light in the dielectric) is not totally right. We improve Vp linearity and ALL the related variables, too. And yes, those include the foundation of R, L and C common to all cables. ICONOCLAST can’t remove physics any more than create new physics. It can show what we don’t know, though.

When you improve a variable in audio cable, it effects related variables as well. When Vp coherence is improved (and Vp coherence DOES change the cable’s properties or physics is wrong) it also impacts the OPPOSITE frequency range by lowering the open-short impedance. BOTH are tied together and BOTH need to be improved. Higher capacitance and individual wire loop DCR impacts the low frequency impedance. And yes, this changes how the amp/speaker and cable interact as we have a different reactive network or again, phsics as we know it is wrong and it isn’t. Unlike RF, where stuff is steady state, analog is an awkward frequency range in constant transition at every frequency point. The impacts of this are going to be different based on the total reactive network…it has to be. A cable’s impedance to a speaker at a frequency are NOT matched! We have simple reflections (ZOBEL networks use this property).

The application of more individually insulated and small wires splits the current into smaller signal values per wire, and this smaller wire improves skin effect, lowers current removes to reduce the proximity effects (proportional to current). Managed as a network more small wires can INCREASE the CMA area and lower DCR. IC and speaker cable use different characteristics of the technology. IC cables have no proximity effect to even consider into a high impedance load for example.

Inductance is wrapped around all of the capacitive effects. One BONDED speaker cable pair measures 0.126uH/foot inductance nominal. To lower that inductance value you need to reduce the loop area with DISTANCE and EM field CANCELLATION. Distance is already at a minimum with BONDED pairs thus we introduce EM field cancellation into the design’s. The speaker cable weave pattern used in ICONOCLAST speaker cable does exactly that. Cross weave and SEPARATE polarity paths reduce inductance to 0.08 uH/foot. It works as the physics says it should.

The speaker cable weave also limits the capacitance as the dielectric (inductance isn’t sensitive to the dielectric properties) and physical and periodic separation paths LOWER total capacitance as the average distance is increased. Every wire path is the exact same physical length, so the cable thinks it is “one” wire. Again, the physics says it will work, and it does. We ideally want to hold L and C to reasonably low values and JUST use DCR to optimize the cable if we can, that’s the end goal in a perfect world. In practice we allow higher capacitance in a speaker cable (-3 dB roll off in is the GHz, but amplifier reactive loading is a concern) to lower inductance for current delivery. In IC we like to see low capacitance as it is a voltage signal with low conductor loop DCR.

The IC cable, RCA and XLR use like physics to alter L and C. More smaller wires in a star quad reduces Inductance, but it ALSO has to raise capacitance. It does, from 12.5 pF/foot to 17.5 pF/foot nominal. This is expected as the physics says it has to be. We also increase the CMA area for longer runs. Both the RCA and XLR measure the same swept open-short impedancd by design. The RCA’s double braid improves RCA cable issue of DCR being added between devices and this can aggravate ground loops as the ground isn’t as uniform as it should be. Again, standard physics.

Belden’s task was to IMPROVE every aspect of an analog cable and we did that. We have never put to book a “sound”. A loud speaker’s specs have ZERO real meaning until you listen to ALL of the parameters at once in your room. A cable by itself isn’t ever used, but with an amplifier and speaker. Physics DEMANDS that the introduction of a reactive AC network is derived from the system’s total load to the amplifier. That you, and us too, fail to make this distinction we KNOW is true, is just the short comings of what and how we measure this dynamic interaction. We KNOW for a fact that this reactive interaction is different when we change any of the three variables, amp, cable and speakers. This fact alone suggest we can only calculate and measure certain things. I can relate as I’m restriced to this issue too, but it DOES NOT provide the final answer as to how this complex network is changing things.

Your test illustrate the limits of attribute testing. It can’t show differences in the reactive network when physics says it is definitely there. Saying I can’t hear that isn’t the same as then trying to “prove” the cable electrical don’t impact the RIGHT tests. R, L and C changes do and will alter the analog signal and they will and they have to or again, the physics is broken.

ICONOCLAST will sell what I can calculate and measure, same as we’ve provided since 2015. Our job is to provide properly made cable with KNOWNS adjusted to better suit analog. We sell the entire range of electrical cable. ALL designs will be measured and shown to work as the physics says they should. We have no magic that needs to be accepted. The same properties that make your and our “generic” cable are still at play but to a higher degree in ICONOCLAST to reach better electrical. That’s what the market wants to try and that’s what we make. The effort to make better cable is no more wasted than it has been to provide the products we buy today and improved over the last 100 years. PRICE, not performance, is the barrier to entry and with proper pricing volume there is ZERO reason to not use better R, L and C cable. None. Why would you? Analog is an addative distortion and every step matters.

Your simple testing, and mine, is what blinds us to the changes that physics is providing in each design and yet, we still can’t test them. Welcome to the club. Show me the measurements the do capture the physics in play and we’re good. This isn’t saying, “I can’t hear that”. Your tested data, although accurate to the tests resolution, is incomplete “proving” there is no difference when we know for a fact there is. A simple device is limited by what we know today and doesn’t change what’s left we can’t test. It is a tool to stay on track, it doesn’t answer all of the networks actual properties.

Sitting behind a knowledge limited test fixture won’t change things any more than making zip cord speaker cable forever. The limits need to be pushed in testing and design forcing us to ask, “as different as this really is, why can’t we test the tertiary elements that HAVE TO BE showing up in the “tested” data?”. When an analog design changes, the output has to change or the physics has stopped and it didn’t. We stopped. We make properly made cable to push those testing limits.

Best,
Galen Gareis

 

[Todd k]

I received a response from Galen to my review. I will post a link from the review to this post:

---------

Hi AMIR,

We got it exactly half right. We have a little distortion added in.

ICONOCLAST is designed to get ALL the typical variables optimized that we can MEASURE and CALCULATE, and not just Vp. We do hear TIME based changes to the EM wave. Pure resistive amplitude is a passive distortion. A cable that is resistive only would be ideal. ICONOCLAST is optimized to better is better electrical. To say ICONOCLAST is “only” about Vp propagation times (still very fast in any cable as it is the speed of light in the dielectric) is not totally right. We improve Vp linearity and ALL the related variables, too. And yes, those include the foundation of R, L and C common to all cables. ICONOCLAST can’t remove physics any more than create new physics. It can show what we don’t know, though.

When you improve a variable in audio cable, it effects related variables as well. When Vp coherence is improved (and Vp coherence DOES change the cable’s properties or physics is wrong) it also impacts the OPPOSITE frequency range by lowering the open-short impedance. BOTH are tied together and BOTH need to be improved. Higher capacitance and individual wire loop DCR impacts the low frequency impedance. And yes, this changes how the amp/speaker and cable interact as we have a different reactive network or again, phsics as we know it is wrong and it isn’t. Unlike RF, where stuff is steady state, analog is an awkward frequency range in constant transition at every frequency point. The impacts of this are going to be different based on the total reactive network…it has to be. A cable’s impedance to a speaker at a frequency are NOT matched! We have simple reflections (ZOBEL networks use this property).

The application of more individually insulated and small wires splits the current into smaller signal values per wire, and this smaller wire improves skin effect, lowers current removes to reduce the proximity effects (proportional to current). Managed as a network more small wires can INCREASE the CMA area and lower DCR. IC and speaker cable use different characteristics of the technology. IC cables have no proximity effect to even consider into a high impedance load for example.

Inductance is wrapped around all of the capacitive effects. One BONDED speaker cable pair measures 0.126uH/foot inductance nominal. To lower that inductance value you need to reduce the loop area with DISTANCE and EM field CANCELLATION. Distance is already at a minimum with BONDED pairs thus we introduce EM field cancellation into the design’s. The speaker cable weave pattern used in ICONOCLAST speaker cable does exactly that. Cross weave and SEPARATE polarity paths reduce inductance to 0.08 uH/foot. It works as the physics says it should.

The speaker cable weave also limits the capacitance as the dielectric (inductance isn’t sensitive to the dielectric properties) and physical and periodic separation paths LOWER total capacitance as the average distance is increased. Every wire path is the exact same physical length, so the cable thinks it is “one” wire. Again, the physics says it will work, and it does. We ideally want to hold L and C to reasonably low values and JUST use DCR to optimize the cable if we can, that’s the end goal in a perfect world. In practice we allow higher capacitance in a speaker cable (-3 dB roll off in is the GHz, but amplifier reactive loading is a concern) to lower inductance for current delivery. In IC we like to see low capacitance as it is a voltage signal with low conductor loop DCR.

The IC cable, RCA and XLR use like physics to alter L and C. More smaller wires in a star quad reduces Inductance, but it ALSO has to raise capacitance. It does, from 12.5 pF/foot to 17.5 pF/foot nominal. This is expected as the physics says it has to be. We also increase the CMA area for longer runs. Both the RCA and XLR measure the same swept open-short impedancd by design. The RCA’s double braid improves RCA cable issue of DCR being added between devices and this can aggravate ground loops as the ground isn’t as uniform as it should be. Again, standard physics.

Belden’s task was to IMPROVE every aspect of an analog cable and we did that. We have never put to book a “sound”. A loud speaker’s specs have ZERO real meaning until you listen to ALL of the parameters at once in your room. A cable by itself isn’t ever used, but with an amplifier and speaker. Physics DEMANDS that the introduction of a reactive AC network is derived from the system’s total load to the amplifier. That you, and us too, fail to make this distinction we KNOW is true, is just the short comings of what and how we measure this dynamic interaction. We KNOW for a fact that this reactive interaction is different when we change any of the three variables, amp, cable and speakers. This fact alone suggest we can only calculate and measure certain things. I can relate as I’m restriced to this issue too, but it DOES NOT provide the final answer as to how this complex network is changing things.

Your test illustrate the limits of attribute testing. It can’t show differences in the reactive network when physics says it is definitely there. Saying I can’t hear that isn’t the same as then trying to “prove” the cable electrical don’t impact the RIGHT tests. R, L and C changes do and will alter the analog signal and they will and they have to or again, the physics is broken.

ICONOCLAST will sell what I can calculate and measure, same as we’ve provided since 2015. Our job is to provide properly made cable with KNOWNS adjusted to better suit analog. We sell the entire range of electrical cable. ALL designs will be measured and shown to work as the physics says they should. We have no magic that needs to be accepted. The same properties that make your and our “generic” cable are still at play but to a higher degree in ICONOCLAST to reach better electrical. That’s what the market wants to try and that’s what we make. The effort to make better cable is no more wasted than it has been to provide the products we buy today and improved over the last 100 years. PRICE, not performance, is the barrier to entry and with proper pricing volume there is ZERO reason to not use better R, L and C cable. None. Why would you? Analog is an addative distortion and every step matters.

Your simple testing, and mine, is what blinds us to the changes that physics is providing in each design and yet, we still can’t test them. Welcome to the club. Show me the measurements the do capture the physics in play and we’re good. This isn’t saying, “I can’t hear that”. Your tested data, although accurate to the tests resolution, is incomplete “proving” there is no difference when we know for a fact there is. A simple device is limited by what we know today and doesn’t change what’s left we can’t test. It is a tool to stay on track, it doesn’t answer all of the networks actual properties.

Sitting behind a knowledge limited test fixture won’t change things any more than making zip cord speaker cable forever. The limits need to be pushed in testing and design forcing us to ask, “as different as this really is, why can’t we test the tertiary elements that HAVE TO BE showing up in the “tested” data?”. When an analog design changes, the output has to change or the physics has stopped and it didn’t. We stopped. We make properly made cable to push those testing limits.

Best,
Galen Gareis

im not sure I understood anything he said there. Sounded like a load of sh*t.

 

[CtheArgie]

Just overwhelm with cow manure if you don’t like what you see. Some may stick.

 

[amirm]

My response to Galen:

---

Hello Galen. Thanks again for the response. I included your original write-up below in the review.

As to points made within, some of your comments are about speaker cables which I did not test (I only tested XLR interconnect).

You start with the premise that: “We do hear TIME based changes to the EM wave.”

We don’t have agreement on this. Sit in a live music presentation and you hear not only the direct sound, but reflected sound from the room. What you hear then is a phase/timing “soup.” Our hearing fortunately is designed to not care or we would go crazy, listening to others in our homes with all of those reflections/timing distortions. Indeed, the brain is good at filtering that. As you listen to your loved one in your home, they do not sound different as you or they move, yet timing distortion is introduced at higher frequencies like nobody’s business.

Please see these AES papers:
“Measuring Audible Effects of Time Delays in Listening Rooms,” Clark, David, AES Convention: 74 (October 1983)
On the Audibility of Midrange Phase Distortion in Audio Systems, STANLEY P. LIPSHITZ, MARK POCOCK, AND JOHN VANDERKOOY
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3Gl

My testing also was NOT white box as you mention below. Instead, I treat the cable as a black box and see what effect it has with respect to noise, phase, distortion and frequency response on an audio signal. I found no difference here.

Importantly, I also performed a null test. I captured the signal from both your XLR cable and a much cheaper one. The results nulled to threshold of hearing (-115 dBFS) which indicates no difference in sound with very high confidence. I further post the differential audio file which is silent. If there were changes to the waveform, this test would have detected it. But it did not.

Ultimately we, the audiophiles, care about the sound, not the cable parameters as we don’t listen to cables. In order to prove there is a difference, you either need to conduct a blind/controlled test with statistical significance, or null test above, or both. Without this, there simply is no way forward. The whole premise of needing a new cable relies on this basis being proven. If you have such data, I will happily eat my words and run with yours.

Best regards,
Amir

 

[MattHooper]

I didn't understand it either. But if we simply reply with "sounds like sh*t to me" we'd be no better than those dismissing Amir's cable tests with the same type of responses.

I'm waiting to see someone address the technical claims in Galen's reply.

 

[CtheArgie]

Please please please tell me you weren't one of my students. Or if you were, that you didn't pass.

We have to ask him how much longer?

 

[Talisman]

I received a response from Galen to my review. I will post a link from the review to this post:

---------

Hi AMIR,

We got it exactly half right. We have a little distortion added in.

ICONOCLAST is designed to get ALL the typical variables optimized that we can MEASURE and CALCULATE, and not just Vp. We do hear TIME based changes to the EM wave. Pure resistive amplitude is a passive distortion. A cable that is resistive only would be ideal. ICONOCLAST is optimized to better is better electrical. To say ICONOCLAST is “only” about Vp propagation times (still very fast in any cable as it is the speed of light in the dielectric) is not totally right. We improve Vp linearity and ALL the related variables, too. And yes, those include the foundation of R, L and C common to all cables. ICONOCLAST can’t remove physics any more than create new physics. It can show what we don’t know, though.

When you improve a variable in audio cable, it effects related variables as well. When Vp coherence is improved (and Vp coherence DOES change the cable’s properties or physics is wrong) it also impacts the OPPOSITE frequency range by lowering the open-short impedance. BOTH are tied together and BOTH need to be improved. Higher capacitance and individual wire loop DCR impacts the low frequency impedance. And yes, this changes how the amp/speaker and cable interact as we have a different reactive network or again, phsics as we know it is wrong and it isn’t. Unlike RF, where stuff is steady state, analog is an awkward frequency range in constant transition at every frequency point. The impacts of this are going to be different based on the total reactive network…it has to be. A cable’s impedance to a speaker at a frequency are NOT matched! We have simple reflections (ZOBEL networks use this property).

The application of more individually insulated and small wires splits the current into smaller signal values per wire, and this smaller wire improves skin effect, lowers current removes to reduce the proximity effects (proportional to current). Managed as a network more small wires can INCREASE the CMA area and lower DCR. IC and speaker cable use different characteristics of the technology. IC cables have no proximity effect to even consider into a high impedance load for example.

Inductance is wrapped around all of the capacitive effects. One BONDED speaker cable pair measures 0.126uH/foot inductance nominal. To lower that inductance value you need to reduce the loop area with DISTANCE and EM field CANCELLATION. Distance is already at a minimum with BONDED pairs thus we introduce EM field cancellation into the design’s. The speaker cable weave pattern used in ICONOCLAST speaker cable does exactly that. Cross weave and SEPARATE polarity paths reduce inductance to 0.08 uH/foot. It works as the physics says it should.

The speaker cable weave also limits the capacitance as the dielectric (inductance isn’t sensitive to the dielectric properties) and physical and periodic separation paths LOWER total capacitance as the average distance is increased. Every wire path is the exact same physical length, so the cable thinks it is “one” wire. Again, the physics says it will work, and it does. We ideally want to hold L and C to reasonably low values and JUST use DCR to optimize the cable if we can, that’s the end goal in a perfect world. In practice we allow higher capacitance in a speaker cable (-3 dB roll off in is the GHz, but amplifier reactive loading is a concern) to lower inductance for current delivery. In IC we like to see low capacitance as it is a voltage signal with low conductor loop DCR.

The IC cable, RCA and XLR use like physics to alter L and C. More smaller wires in a star quad reduces Inductance, but it ALSO has to raise capacitance. It does, from 12.5 pF/foot to 17.5 pF/foot nominal. This is expected as the physics says it has to be. We also increase the CMA area for longer runs. Both the RCA and XLR measure the same swept open-short impedancd by design. The RCA’s double braid improves RCA cable issue of DCR being added between devices and this can aggravate ground loops as the ground isn’t as uniform as it should be. Again, standard physics.

Belden’s task was to IMPROVE every aspect of an analog cable and we did that. We have never put to book a “sound”. A loud speaker’s specs have ZERO real meaning until you listen to ALL of the parameters at once in your room. A cable by itself isn’t ever used, but with an amplifier and speaker. Physics DEMANDS that the introduction of a reactive AC network is derived from the system’s total load to the amplifier. That you, and us too, fail to make this distinction we KNOW is true, is just the short comings of what and how we measure this dynamic interaction. We KNOW for a fact that this reactive interaction is different when we change any of the three variables, amp, cable and speakers. This fact alone suggest we can only calculate and measure certain things. I can relate as I’m restriced to this issue too, but it DOES NOT provide the final answer as to how this complex network is changing things.

Your test illustrate the limits of attribute testing. It can’t show differences in the reactive network when physics says it is definitely there. Saying I can’t hear that isn’t the same as then trying to “prove” the cable electrical don’t impact the RIGHT tests. R, L and C changes do and will alter the analog signal and they will and they have to or again, the physics is broken.

ICONOCLAST will sell what I can calculate and measure, same as we’ve provided since 2015. Our job is to provide properly made cable with KNOWNS adjusted to better suit analog. We sell the entire range of electrical cable. ALL designs will be measured and shown to work as the physics says they should. We have no magic that needs to be accepted. The same properties that make your and our “generic” cable are still at play but to a higher degree in ICONOCLAST to reach better electrical. That’s what the market wants to try and that’s what we make. The effort to make better cable is no more wasted than it has been to provide the products we buy today and improved over the last 100 years. PRICE, not performance, is the barrier to entry and with proper pricing volume there is ZERO reason to not use better R, L and C cable. None. Why would you? Analog is an addative distortion and every step matters.

Your simple testing, and mine, is what blinds us to the changes that physics is providing in each design and yet, we still can’t test them. Welcome to the club. Show me the measurements the do capture the physics in play and we’re good. This isn’t saying, “I can’t hear that”. Your tested data, although accurate to the tests resolution, is incomplete “proving” there is no difference when we know for a fact there is. A simple device is limited by what we know today and doesn’t change what’s left we can’t test. It is a tool to stay on track, it doesn’t answer all of the networks actual properties.

Sitting behind a knowledge limited test fixture won’t change things any more than making zip cord speaker cable forever. The limits need to be pushed in testing and design forcing us to ask, “as different as this really is, why can’t we test the tertiary elements that HAVE TO BE showing up in the “tested” data?”. When an analog design changes, the output has to change or the physics has stopped and it didn’t. We stopped. We make properly made cable to push those testing limits.

Best,
Galen Gareis

In short, they are at the most classic: "This cable makes you hear things that you cannot measure"
right?

 

[kencreten]

At $800 I expect it to be 60ft long and make me coffee in the morning. No amount of build quality justifies a 6ft cable being that much.

Actually... I talked to a Jet Propulsion Lab engineer on a flight once. She said that she was working on a 4ft cable for the space station that cost $10,000. But, it had all kinds of cables in the overall cable wrap, she said. Nordost can't do 4 ft of anything for under $10,000, and it's not going into space!

 

[jhaider]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the ICONOCLAST XLR by Belden (manufactured by Blue Jeans Cable). Tested sample costs US $785 for 6 foot length: […] this cable uses solid conductors that are very inflexible. It especially resists rotation which sadly, is something you need to do with XLR cables to align the socket/plug.

Tl;dr -stupid expensive while a practicality failure. In addition to being stiff, solid conductors are more likely to break with movement than fine strands.

No thanks.

Generally, an audio cable should have good connectors, be appropriately sized and shielded (or not) for the task, and be flexible.

 

[Doodski]

Actually... I talked to a Jet Propulsion Lab engineer on a flight once. She said that she was working on a 4ft cable for the space station that cost $10,000. But, it had all kinds of cables in the overall cable wrap, she said. Nordost can't do 4 ft of anything for under $10,000, and it's not going into space!

I sold a cable to a oil and gas firm for $20,000.00 when I test drove a position as a sales exec for a cable company. It was a total laydown sale. It was a very thick snake with a lot of conductors about 100 feet long with nice heavy duty connectors. By the time the cable spec was understood, was chosen & ordered, then soldered up, the machinist made the dies for the ends and the ends then melted on to seal them with custom machinery it was a lot of work by a large team of skilled workers. The oil and gas firm never even flinched. They simply asked. When can we have it rushed? So a Jet Propulsion Lab making a $10,000.00 cable does not surprise me in the least.

 

[kencreten]

I've no idea how to rate something that works perfectly well but can be replaced with something else much cheaper that also works perfectly well.

Need the piggy bank panther.

Upon reflection:
It does its job, so not terrible. It costs a bunch, that isn't fine or great. So... not terrible.

I think 800 for an XLR cable that doesn't help might qualify for audio-logically terribleness?