Short balanced runs

This is one of those debates that could drag on for pages, create a flame war and give no real answer. My advice is borrow a couple of Good cables , and average cables and make your own decision.
Look, I have been in great studios with Mogami or even more expensive stuff everywhere, well except for the 3 feet of solid core Belsen on every plug inside their ADC patchbays ! I have also been in situations where even some little 1 footers had to be Starquad Canare because of RFI, of course this was in the shadow of a Candelabra Antenna with all the local broadcasters on it. Look a decent ProCo with Real Neutrik or Switchcraft should be fine, now the lowend stuff with the fake connectors I would avoid avoid.
Personally I suggest and use Mogami 3159 install AES EBU for pretty much all permanent runs using Nickel plated Neutrik and some nickel Switchcraft where the connectors just work better. DIY will save a ton on wiring, let you use a labeling method that is consistent, help develop soldering skills that will be a life savor at some point.

Here's my $.02. No great song, which is played by great musicians, is going to be held back from popularity by microphone cables.

To each his own. I bought few analog dsub xlr cables from redco and found them much more thin and fragile than the ones I bought from Lynx. That being said, we're talking about microphone cables for a singer songwriter. I doubt it would take 30 minutes to figure out the bad cable. I've bought Mogami's and pro co's and haven't ever had a 30 minute problem  tracking down a  cable gone bad, but I'm not dealing with 30 inputs at a time. 

Good point. I can deal with a bad cable easily enough, but longevity is part of the equation. Also, I don't use a patch-bay so they will get moved around maybe a half dozen times a year.

I am, sometimes anyway, (32 input console) and I've still never had it take 30 minutes. 5 or 10, maybe, especially if I forgot where I put the Ebtech Swizz Army Knife cable tester, which tests everything except Speakon and BNC and incluses an intermittent test, which can be a lifesaver.

One of the best things I ever did about 15 years ago was buy a reel of Mogami balanced mic cable, and another reel of Mogami unbalanced/instrument cable, and a load of gold plated Neutrik jacks and XLR connectors. I've made 50 or more cables in that time and none of them has ever needed replacing. Sound good too!

I run Mogami everywhere. EVERY where. I know it's probably overkill. But it gives me peace of mind, and I'm never, ever second guessing. That's worth the difference in price alone. And I like working with it.

I have only ONE gripe.

Rats and Mice LOOOOOVE the insulation of the snake casings, and also the individual pairs. If you've got cable under the floor, or in the attic, or in conduit that exits to either, you have the opportunity for chew-age. Some locations I've kept mouse traps up and armed 24/7/365. Just because every once in a while, one of those buggers sneaks in. And for some reason, they sniff it out and go for it.