First thing you have to understand is that hardware stores do not sell balance microphone or connection cable. They sell electrical cable which is not balanced cable but has 3 conductors or more, WITHOUT A SHIELD! You need a Belden, Mogami or Canare' cable catalog. You'll probably have to mail order the proper cable for studio interconnection purposes. The stuff that the hardware sells is GREAT for connecting loudspeakers to amplifiers but that is all. Maybe also a headphone system but not cabling to use for studio interconnect in patch bays and for God sakes, do not use telephone wiring either!

Balling over my cable cluster
Ms. Remy Ann David

I live outside the states now so the situation is a little bit different. I do have asked for a sample of the cable they carry and it is shielded. Everything looks fine just that it's not twisted.

I will be looking for taiwan or even china produced ones as I don't have a big budget on it. So understanding the spec. is quite important for me.

The purpose of balanced signal transmission is to reject unwanted noise and interference picked up by the cable. Twisting the two signal wires in a balanced cable aids in rejecting common mode noise. So, yes it is important to use cabling with twisted wires.