I am going to buy a set of 1ft XLR(m)-XLR(f) cable from Blue Jeans Cable to connect my ECD-1 to my HR BUDA. The options are Belden 1800F or Canare L-4E6S Star Quad. Any reason to go for one or the other for such a short run? They are both close to the same price, I guess the Star Quad is a tiny bit more. I have seen that a lot of DIY people use the Star Quad for their cables (along with Mogami) but perhaps that is because it is more readily available and/or easier to work with than the Belden?

My impression is that it is not going to make much of a difference which I buy and to just go for the Belden since it is slightly cheaper. Any thoughts?

*My amp for now will my right on top of the DAC so 1 ft should be fine as long as the cables are not *too* thick. If they are about the same thickness as the LC-1, it should be fine.

I have 1 ft long RCA's from BJC and have kind of regretted not getting something a tad longer. Also, heels-6 on ebay sells 1m pairs of the Star Quad for a bit cheaper than BJC for the same length. I've dealt with him before and he ships almost as quickly and his packing is superb.

True, maybe I should go for 2ft to have more wiggle room.

I like BJC but his look pretty nice as well. Maybe I will see if heels-6 can make a 2ft one (1m is too long).

I have 1 ft long RCA's from BJC and have kind of regretted not getting something a tad longer. Also, heels-6 on ebay sells 1m pairs of the Star Quad for a bit cheaper than BJC for the same length. I've dealt with him before and he ships almost as quickly and his packing is superb.

I've also bought a 15 foot headphone extension from heels-6 and he is a good seller, and the ext cable does not seem to degrade the sound either.

They would sound distant, of course.

I would get the starquad, just because it's slightly more expensive, so I wouldn't have to worry about double-thinking my choice later.

I have a 1.5 ft pair of each type from BJC and there is no meaningful difference. I prefer and use the Belden because it's more flexible but even that's negligible enough to ignore.

They would sound distant, of course.

ROFLMAO!

They would sound distant, of course.

... with excellent stereo separation!

Belden. Lower capacitance, AES/EBU standard characteristic impedance (so can be used for more applications), and it's less expensive. The Canare cable just has better CMR, but that shouldn't be an issue in your system so the Belden is the better choice.

Belden. Lower capacitance, AES/EBU standard characteristic impedance (so can be used for more applications), and it's less expensive. The Canare cable just has better CMR, but that shouldn't be an issue in your system so the Belden is the better choice.

Thanks but I already contacted heels-6 and ordered some 1.5ft cables Star Quad (cheaper than BJC Belden). Maybe I'll try the Belden next time though.

This is basically the same 15 foot extension I bought from heels-6 last year (Jan 08 ):

Ultimate Headphone Extension 1/4" TRS Cable - 15 foot - eBay (item 380147151946 end time Sep-06-09 20:29:13 PDT)

The cable still looks new 18 months later.

OK, kinda off topic:

If capacitance is the main concern for interconnects, and impedance is the main issue for speaker cable, what do I need to worry about for headphone cables? Can I assume impedance like speaker cable?

Ah, well, that settles it then.