Crap, crap, crap, tak'em to the store and get your money back. If you dissasemble these things and dissasemble a radio shack cable at the same time, you would think that they are mirror images of each other, horrible! Spend your $35-$40 somewhere else.

I compared the Interlink 400 along with some other cables with Mission DAC5, Rotel RC971 Preamp and Sennheiser HD600 Headphone. I agree with all the bad review of this product: the high is dull and the bass lacks impact and speed. Spend the money on a Kimber Kable PBJ for airy sound and tight bass (though the cable may sound too bright in certain rooms and/or ears). Or spend a bit more on MIT2 for sweet sound and balanced phrasing. Or, simply, take your spouse out for a nice dinner and keep your $5.00 RCA standard cable, for the Monster does not sound any better.

yeah..i agreed that this cable is downright sucked!! now that i have a pair of brand-spankin' new PBJ which i got for half-price (doesn't hurt to scour the internet for great deals), the differences are like night and day..the bass is much tighter, midrange is more airy and open, vocals are uncolored and neutral.the PBJ really integrated well into my system which consist of B&W 602, a pair of marantz MA-500s, Marantz CD-63se, and paradigm pw-2200..now, the IL-400 will only serve as the connection between my vcr and preamp (Rotel RTC-970) until i can find a better video cable to replace it..

Interesting reading everyones' opinion on these cables - there seems to be a bit of variation in reports from "these cables are crap" too "they sound quite good."All I can say is look at the price! Sure a cable costing twice as much is going to sound better (especiialy at the budget end of the market).
One thing I will add, is that cables are quite system dependant, I was using Van Den Hul D102Mk2 on my CD player plugged into an all valve pre/power, the sound was always smooth and very listenable, but lacking a bit in dynamics. I then tried the Interlink 400 for a (laugh) comparison, expecting the worst, I was quite amazed - increase in dynamics with more detail, imaging about the same.
As this cable costs about a third of the Van Den Hul, there has to be some weird synergy going on. No I don't think these cables are brilliant, but don't get fooled by the hype about expensive cables - sometimes budget ones can work quite adequately.
BTW: for the ultimate cable use single silver wire, just ask your local jeweller, of course you have to insulate it yourself, but it's cheaper than a lot of "audiophile" cables!

Smart shoppers can find this wire for .50 cents a foot... (Parts-Express often has this product at this price...)
obviously this cable isn't the best out there, but for .50 cents a foot you can't beat it with a stick.

Furthermore, sonic improvement of interconnects is totally subjective, and is dominated by the law of diminishing returns... sure i could pay 60 bucks for 3 feet of cable, but my dollar fifty spent on the monster cable 401 is plenty good enough for me.

Finally, people need to read "The Audio Critic." ... let's judge performance through science.

After hearing all the bad reports on the I400 I had to go and swap the one I had connected from my cd player to my amp with a cheapie and see if it actually sounded different. OK the bass was not as deep but the highs were much clearer and the imaging was better. Can you belive that I paid AUS $150 for the I400. What a waste of money. Definately not a recomended buy.

I have the cable for more then 6 years now, and still like them. My current equipment is a Marantz CD67SE, a Marantz PM80 and MC loudspeakers. I get captured by the sound and think in this setting the sound is very natural. Actually I don't care about middle bass, low high or whatever. I just listen to the instruments and like their sound.
Recenty I tried QED Connect 2. The music had gone, no captive instruments so brought them back. The QED Genesis Silver loudspeaker cable, which I borrowed together with them, sounded great. Hope my girlfriend can live with the ugly looks!

About all the bad reviews, just listen for yourself.

I am a bass fan and guys your right, Im rather dissapointed with this product. any time you have to get your powered sub (120 Watts/28Hz-180Hz.) to kick out the bass and still not get adaqate bass you'll be disappointed. Dont get me wrong in my DVD set up I get floor rumbling bass. Not with my CD's though thats not the case. I spent alot of money on MonsterCable and this one doesnt deliver all the goods. Great upper bass, mid and treble, no mid bass no low bass. Save your 40 bucks and buy 3 buck interconnects and use the rest to buy discs.

Many years ago, I had tried many cables with my system, then a Philips CD850 with a Pioneer A400 amp and Mission 753 and Rogers LS3/5A speakers (before the Missions).
The ones I tried were:
Kimber PBJ
Audioquest Ruby
Monster Interlink 400
Van Den Hul D300 III
Apature BL-4

Verdict is as follows:
Apature BL-4 - very nice cable. Clear and detailed but also very sweet and refined. Very quiet. Accurate with good sounstaging. 5 Stars for the price.

Kimber PBJ - slightly bright and harsh but otherwise very detailed and clear. Good soundstaging. Background a bit noisy and messy. 4 Stars for the price.

Van Den Hul - Another nice cable for the price. Not as detailed as Kimber of Apature and slightly veiled. Overall not bad. 4 Stars for the price.

Audioquest Ruby - Not a bad cable but sounded a little dark and sounstage a little low. 3 Stars for the price.

Monster I 400 - Unforturnately, this one did not agree with my ears as it sounded quite muddled. Slightly better than standard cables given by manufacturers but quiet dissappointing overall. 2 Stars.

I now use Kimber Silver Streaks and Apature but I still have all the other cables except for the Monster which I junked.

Ok, ive got to throw in the towel here. The only reason i bought this cable was because it has good shielding, good connectors, and gold plated. They were pretty cool looking too. I didnt buy them thinking my audio system would improve or any other non-sense. Go into a recording studio, they just have good shielded cables in there. No diamond coated fancy name $500 cables. Cables don't have anything to do with tight bass etc. A good thick shielded cable is all you need!
These cables sound like every other cable on the planet. The only reason why i bought this cable was because i didnt want leakage from the powercord going into the cable. (my previous cable was very thin an i was worried about shielding)

When you hear people say such and such cable has more bass etc. etc. don't believe it. Its all in their mind. Other things are important. ie. Tubes, pickups, source, speakers, etc.
I give this a cable a 5. It does what any cable does and no cable costing hundreds does it any better.

later!

btw, my system is:
Yamaha DSP-A1G (home-theater)
Conrad-Johnson PV-10AL (preamp for 2ch/music)
Infinity Overtures (modified)
Infinity servo sub
Sony S7000 DVD player (hand built tube-DAC stb added)
Sony R1000 S-VHS