Originally Posted by Gordon Scott
But JOM seemed to like them.
Matt seemed to like them,
Mike seemed to think they had benefits, though mostly the variable impedance ones. (I wonder which method they use to do that).
The same method I explained on how to build your own. We can do a separate thread on that.

Quote
FWIW, I once had a Hi-Fi store demonstration have me doubting my assertion that cables cannot be directional, until I realised that their own bias was causing them to turn the volume slightly higher for the "correct direction".

I loooove the mystic mumbo-jumbo surrounding cables. The PT Barnum effect is strong in that market. Have you read "Speaker Wire A History" by Roger Russell, the former Director of Acoustic Research for McIntosh Labs on that nonsense? There are a number of links but a straight through read is most educational. I'm surprised the industry let him live after writing that.

As an aside, I use star-quad mic and connecting cable in my studio. It's smack-dab in the middle of the Silicon Valley and EMF & other interference is quite strong around here. Star-quad is about -20dB quieter where I am than standard balanced cable. This is one of those situations where, if you can't hear a difference, there is none but where I am, it's quite noticeable. I use SESCOM Canare Star-quad Custom Cables from Markertek. A 25' cable in any of eight colors costs $25 — that's less than name brand cables at Guitar Center et all. I just love reading how a $89 Mogami oxygen free cable sounds different — even if we mortals can't hear and instruments can't sense the difference. (SESCOM will use Mogami star-quad on request but it's fragile and they don't recommend lengths over 6').

BIAB 2025 Audiophile Mac
24Core/60CoreGPU M2 MacStudioUltra/8TB/192GB Sequoia, M1 MBAir, 2012 MBP
Digital Performer11, LogicPro, Finale27/Dorico/Encore/SmartScorePro64/Notion6 /Overture5