@ E-Stat, man, I had no idea Belden could be used in the audio chain with such excellent results. I knew Belden existed but never heard their wire in a system and I was shocked to learn Neko uses Beldon 1800F for their IC's. I found a review by BJC and even thought the 1800F result was not stellar by their published results it did mention that when the 1800F is utilized with XLR balanced then it's a superb cable. I know that's right because thats exactly what I got hooked up right now. Besides BJC I wonder who else used Beldon cable.

@ Rikki, you would lose the bet. I can hear differences in how changes in cabling can change extension, decay, tonality, etc. Sometimes the difference are very subtle or quite vast. Psychologically speaking, yes I "expect" to hear a difference because there is a different or swapped piece in the audio chain but that does not mean that whatever changes that I hear are preferred over the former. I paid less money for the Neko than with the Blue Marble Audio. I prefer the Neko not because of the price difference but for the SQ results that it delivers in my rig. I think being able to detect changes in SQ with regard to cable exchanges is a learned over time with a great many different system configs. I can appreciate your position though as I used to not believe it either until one day I noticed the differences and have been noticing ever since.