Reliable. I've been using these cables for quite a long time, connecting extra DI boxes, where that extra length of cable is needed, they have never broke or crackled. At some bigger outdoor festivals you haven't got total control over all of your equipment, while your sound checking stage number one, you don't know what's happening on stage number two or three where musicians are still setting up. I've often at the end of the festival find these same leads covered in beer and wine, and sometimes asking a guitarist can I move his amplifier and cab off of some of my leads because I'd like to pack up. through all the hard times these leads have gone through, there were none of them broken, not even the crackle. Highly recommended.