Slice said:
Did you end up doing any a/b auditioning at all then?
Congrats - I'm sure you'll be very happy.
No, I didn't audition any cable whatsoever. The brands that are sold in my hometown (Monster Cable, Tara Labs, Nordost and van den hul) did not seem to be what I was looking for. Tara Labs and Nordost, both kinda high-end brands, do not have a decent IC, in my opinion, in the priceclass I was aiming for (under 150 dollars). I mean that both brands have good cables but they are in a higher priceclass. Sure Tara Labs and Nordost have cables under 150 dollars, but they are poorly constructed, in my opinion. Monster Cable is one of the most hated cable brands so I wanted to stay away from them. I guess van den hul could have been a fine choice, but somehow they just don't excite me.
So, without auditioning, I ordered AP Oval One IC from another town. I paid 139 euros for them which is about the same (well a little more) in dollars. Anyway, it is just for my headphone amp and for my laptop. I seriously doubt that I am going to regret buying this IC (I'm crossing my fingers).
Soon I will have to buy yet another cable, well cables. I need both bi-wire speaker cable and RCA IC for my Cyrus stereo system (cd-player 1500 dollars, integrated amp 1300 dollars). Luckily, the choice will be easy to make. Cyrus also makes cables and I would be very very surprised if Cyrus' own cable would not work when connected to their own system. One downside is that Cyrus' cables are somewhat expensive. The 0,5 metre IC costs 150 dollars and the 3 metre pair bi-wire speaker cable costs 250-400 dollars.