I made my own break out cables. I think making cables to be the simplest job in the world, there is no really tricky aspects to it its a matter of choosing the correct properties for the job. also balanced helps because its less fussy about length and interference by design. My cables are multi stranded ofc copper magnet wire that is human hair wide, cost was $20 ish... pretty tricky to solder though.
I also record vocals for dvd and online presentations via a cheap tube microphone pre amp and the results are pretty good even though I only have a behringer xm8500 vocal mic (which i also modded a little with wool damping)
I've also played with some acoustic guitar at high res for kicks and with no processing what so ever sounds pretty damn close to real.