IME, braided cable is good until it gets some rotation over the actual insulation, then you must hope that the inner insulation and wire isn't too stiff, because one day you might look down at it and find it permanently twisted over itself, as the tension and grip from the braiding have pulled it over itself. I've also see it contribute to memory effect, sometimes I think the braiding itself remembers kinks and twists better than the actual cable underneath it, which is what makes it able to twist so aggressively. It starts with the grip-points that the braiding adds, and ends with the braiding sitting stuck to itself. A mouse is always moving around, subtly tugging that cable back and forth, introducing the friction that helps give your braided cables the most b-e-a-utiful curls that you'll never get rid of.
There's a basic action that I think most people can easily imagine. Think about how a tire rolls as it grips the road. Now think of that cable as a really wide tire. That braiding on the outside can give the cable the ability to roll as it moves side to side, especially if it has carpet or even just other cables to roll over.
I have a braided Razer Wolverine cable with a good 4' of it being forever twisted and kinked over itself. You can pull them out easily, 'run' the twist back out with the whole pinch-slide motion towards the disconnected end... but the moment there is braid on braid action, it's over. It always comes back. I have never seen this with plain smooth cables outside of those really soft 'silicone-like' ones that feel like they didn't quite get a full cure and still have catalyst on them... you know... those stretchy, gooey ones, which for whatever reason get used on headphones and earbuds, where they not only snag but seem to move towards everything they are close to.
It seems worse when the braiding is *tight* around the cable... because it still is not like, glued or bound to the surface... it's just squeezing on it with tension, with the actual attachment point holding it in place being at the connector ends. Fine, until you roll over it a couple of times and that braiding *does* free up a little from the rest, somewhere in the middle of the cable. When the insulation is too tight, and it manages to twist past the cable underneath, that puts twisting tension on the whole thing and you will eventually find a permanent twisted kink at one of the connector ends. It tends to telegraph and spread like a virus. The same thing can happen with your plain extension cords, when the outer jacket twists a little past the insulated leads underneath. You wind up with these points where the jacket has separated and just past either end of those points will be (essentially) permanent twists.
I think that *maybe* just *maybe* if you managed to give a cable in that state a wicked enough Indian sunburn to free the outer along the whole run, the twists would actually come out. They stay because of those choke points where the outer is gripping the stuff packed inside of it differently.
It also adds to the memory effect in another way. When you've got that tight braiding around the wire and you do manage to get a kink or bend formed, the outer braiding exerting pressure only helps clamp it in place.
That's what I think it is though... it's the snagging capability mixed with the movement, and maybe the fact that many braided cables have the braiding almost totally friction-bound to the insulation underneath. My HyperX Alloy KB has a braided cable that's twice as old with zero twists or kinks. It is similarly long, maybe 8 or 10 feet. But it hasn't been moving around the way a mouse or controller cable would. I tend to think they're fine until they have to be moving a lot... then, they can be really terrible.
I love them for aesthetic, but I prefer the stuff that's braided in like... paracord, where it's not so aggressively bound to the insulation itself. That's functional, but it also looks and feels nice. Most braided headphone cables are like that and it actually seems to keep them from kinking or forming memory... specially if the cables underneath are also braided in a basic litz shape. They end up feeling very soft and limp, just kinda hang straight and lay flat. It basically acts as a guide with some relief on it. You get to have the cable be loose inside because the pattern of paracord jackets makes them stretch and give a bit like an accordion, so as the wire bends, it doesn't have to follow the jacket through everything, the bends inside can be less steep. You can feel the open space between the braiding and the insulation. I would love a controller or a mouse with a nice lil twisted paracord braid. I might try to make one at some point, but I think with USB it's going to be an issue to make that shape, because of how the cables are built and insulated..
