Bought a pair of Cardas balanced (XLR) M-F 1.5m long interconnect cables to run between my Gustard DAC X16 and the inputs on my Luxman L-505uX II integrated amp. I bought them off eBay for just under $35 shipped. I only needed them because the 1m long ones I had were too short to tie up and hide.
When I called my dealer to ask what were the cheapest 1.5m XLR cables he had in stock, it was Audioquest Golden Gate cables @ $324. a pair!! These will do fine.
Here's the weird thing: They were sold to me from China and shipped from there, yet the cabling itself has markings stating that it's Made In USA! Nice.