I saw this StarQuad video on the Benchmark site. However, reading and watching about it and actually hearing it are different. I will be able to hear this myself next week after the cables are delivered. My guess is that I won't hear a difference. A audio designer on A'gon who helped me understand some of this, atmasphere, told me that balanced connections that support the AES48 standard should not have much variability in sound for different cables. Benchmark gear does support this AES48 standard on the DAC + HPA4 + AHB2. The designer's gear also supported the AES48 standard and he said cables do not make a difference with his gear. He said that the cables must have a minimum level of quality but that is still a low cost cable.
When I had Benchmark DAC3 HGC and AHB2 a few years ago I tried some Canare XLR cables I had received from Bryston about 20 years ago. I compared them to the Audience Au24SE XLR (or just AU24) cables and I could not hear a difference (as I am expecting with the Benchmark StarQuad). However, trying the same cables on a Parasound A21 amp I could tell a big difference in sound. The Audience sounded better to me.
The equipment is in a credenza which makes it difficult to have neat cable management.
When I had the Marantz AV8805 and Parasound A21 I was able to reduce noise at the tweeter using XLR versus RCA interconnects. I have all star-quad XLR cables (from bluejeans) . These are not designer cables and nothing is lost providing additional immunity, so why not?
Note: the A21 is a not a balanced amplifier and measured slightly worse via the balanced connectors but I would still use them for immunity.
- Rich