Best XLR cable?

There are reasons to use a star-quad, and reasons not to use it. For field use, the reasons to use it generally outweigh the reasons not to use it. Biggest reason not to use it in the increased capacitance which reduces the high frequencies. The biggest reason to use it (if soldered properly) is the way the design rejects RFI/EMI.

Local "smarter than most" guy at Benchmark wrote about cable:
http://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/app...-the-importance-of-star-quad-microphone-cable
His son went through our program, he really is smarter than most people, but not an arrogant person so that puts him in the good guy group.
 
Lor said:
What is the max length a XLR cable can be before it starts to lose sound quality?
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Generally, with good quality cable and avoiding proximity to parallel A/C lines, about 300 feet (balanced mic level) could be expected w/o audible issues. (YMMV depending on the source) Further for line level.
Unbalanced mic level? .. 'bout 10 feet.
 
i have canare star quad and mogami cables. to me the mogami sounds slightly better.
 
+1 for Mogami. I wired several entire recording studios with it.
Canare Star-Quad is also very good. I use if for the microphone cables for the exact reasons listed at the top of this page.

Then add Neutrik connectors. I really wouldn't use anything less.
 
Many people say the Mogami sound better, they make very low capacitance cable which could help with the sound. Lots and lots of recording studios are wired with the Mogami cabling. But keep in mind that it is mostly a 3 conductor cable, not 5 like a star-quad, so it can be subject to EMI more than the star-quad stuff. Mogami is generally nice stuff to work with, where the braid on the Canare star-quad stuff can be really difficult to unbraid so you can solder it.
 
Don't know where Redco audio manufactures cables, but they have versions of some Mogami and Canare cables with great quality, at least
just as good, Try a few feet.
 
The level of maturity is pretty sad; i asked what I thought was a reasonable question but I scratch my head wondering why some get off running posts into the ground with banal responses.

Whatever.
 
Something as prosaic as simple cable raises the fancies and imagination of people for reasons many of us don't comprehend. You have unknowingly raised a hot-button issue.question. In a way you could have expected arguments over ANY kind of a question seeking something as subjective as "best".

And there are plenty of people out there who have no conscience and will happily sell snake-oil products to people with unconstrained imagination and lots of money. Some are in the commodity business like "Monster". And others inhabit the opposite end of the spectrum. They are "boutique" garage operations that sell magic cable for thousands of $£¥₤₧₨₩€ per meter.
 
Hey Doubledark,

I was having a little fun at your expense. Sorry you took offense. It happens here.

Best Regards,
Grant
 
doubledark said:
The level of maturity is pretty sad; i asked what I thought was a reasonable question but I scratch my head wondering why some get off running posts into the ground with banal responses.

Whatever.
Click to expand...

Don't take offense. Ask the same question on a "audiophile" board if you want to get some really fun response...

Other than old, damaged or really badly made cables there is going to be no discernible differences under good to normal conditions. Especially for production audio purposes. What most field professionals pay for is better RF rejection, possibly flexibility (some cables are a LOT softer than others) and good solid repairable connectors.

RE: gold VS silver contacts. I don't think anybody makes actual silver plated contacts for the same reason that some gold plate the contacts, oxidation. Most "silver" connections will be nickel plated as silver would corrode quickly and then you have problems. I have seen some old gear with silver connectors and you have to clean them regularly or they oxidize and your connection gets wonky.

The biggest downside to cheap Guitar Center cables is not that they sound bad but they usually have cheap crimped connectors that you can't repair, so when it gets funky in the field you have to replace the whole connector. Some cheap cables also use a foil or a wound shield. Both can be less effective at shielding or can get less effective with use.

Any super premium cables are 99.99999% snake oil. In some very specialized applications maybe there is some benefit but not for film work. I personally would expand that to any application I can think of but??? maybe someone is recording something a super high frequencies and there is a difference?

For film?

Production is concerned with dialog so basically ~ 40Hz to about 15kHz is all that there is (and I'm being generous). For FX work it expands a bit since somethings have really high harmonics that you may uncover if you slow the sound way down (not an unusual thing to do). But still you layering up a bunch of heavily manipulated sounds and your end audience has limited range, mostly. Adults hearing rolls off some place between 10kHz and 15kHz depending on age and gender and exposure. The ear bud generation may actually be a bunch lower, though the "rock" generation certainly got plenty of abuse so?
 
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nice informations!
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Cables are consumable items. I lose dozens every year and just make up a new batch when the flightcase trunk lid goes down to easily!

I can't believe people get so wound up by bits of wire. Reasonable, but not exotic cable and recent connectors. I've been buying cheap XLRs from China - proper cast bodies, decent clamps and solder bucket termination where the insulation doesn't melt. Quick to put on, and dirt cheap in bulk. I bought 6 to try and have now had over 100 - very happy with them. The ONLY requirement I have for cable is that it comes in colours, and lays flat. It must coil properly and not be crushable by flightcase wheels. I love to laugh inside at the twits who spend a fortune on cable. If I leave one of my cables behind, it't no big deal. People who pack their cables away very carefully in protective sleeves don't live in the real world. As for audiofools - sorry audiophiles? They're mostly nutters with gold plated eardrums that can obviously hear gnats farting at 20 feet distance! They've also swallowed a book full of flowery descriptive words that mean absolutely nothing, but get them into the insanity club.
 
Not that you have an opinion... ;~)

To be fair "audiophiles" were mentioned as a joke a bunch of posts ago.

I will say that for field recording I have some really soft cables that I had custom made by a fellow DVX user and they are just fantastic. For cables that are making runs and mostly laying on the ground I have a very mixed bag of cheap cables that I may have repaired at some point. At least a couple were from Guitar Center because we suddenly needed a couple more 50 footers, etc. I don't lose cables much but other than the hassle the soft ones would be the only ones I would "miss". Those I would spend some to replace, but since they are pretty much always connected to my recorder and or mics that isn't likely to happen.

And the reason I like them is not that they sound any better, to my ears, but that they just fall and drape so well. This is field recording FX so a stiff cable that keeps getting in the way can be a major irritant.

I will say that you can make cables close to useless if you abuse them. In theatre mic cables are used for the Clear-Com (intercom headsets) that stage hands use and they manage to get the cables so twisted and kinked that they never lay right again. It may not effect the sound? but the shield must be a mess so? I wouldn't use them as mic cables again. We finally gave up and just isolated all of the cables foe Clear-Com so they would never be used for mics.

Point is even if you get cheap cables treat them decently.
 
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"The ONLY requirement I have for cable is that it comes in colours, and lays flat"
- Not to beat this to death, but that's the reasons I like the Canare star quad, and it's (almost) a joy to coil-up when done.
 
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