XLR cables

[realysm42]

Do any of you use these?

If so what for and which brand do you use?

I'm thinking of getting a pair for my DAC (when it finally arrives, ordered it at the beginning of December) to link to my amp.

Any advice would be very helpful, thanks.

[1ryal]

Hi Martin

I've modest experience with these. From trials of a few brands including tellurium q, I'd suggest :

Switchcraft connectors
and
Van damme black microphone cable.

I made mine up with WBT solder, which seemed to flow quite nicely

About £28 all in.

[Reid Malenfant]

Van Den Hul - The Second & Van Den Hul 110 ohm Pro AES/EBU cables for taking digital data from my CD transport to Monarchy Audio DIP digital interface processor & from that to dCS Purcell upsampler.

Atlas Navigator cables from DAC to pre amp.

A couple of pairs of cables I honestly can't remember from pre amp to active crossovers & from Oppo universal player to pre amp :scratch:


Given the option of using balanced XLR cables or single ended phono cables I'll always use balanced cables - no two ways about it :eyebrows:

It was the difference between a dead cheap homemade AES/EBU cable using MIDI cable & a pair of cheap XLRs compared to a quite expensive S/PDIF cable that convinced me. The cheap cable wiped the floor with the expensive one :D

[realysm42]

Mark, did you mix and match by choice, or grab a bargain where you could?

Looked at the Atlas, it's not exactly cheap lol.

Cheers Jim, I'm no good with diy atall, so will have to stay within premade confines (I should have said, apologies).

[Reid Malenfant]

I bought The Second new deliberately, the same with the AES/EBU Pro 110 ohm stuff as I had to make a special lead up. Couldn't do that with The second as it's carbon cored & I don't have the connectors or stuff to crimp it. Has to be done at the factory.

As for the Atlas Navigator, ebay is your friend :eyebrows:

[jandl100]

VdH? - I'm not sure I would recommend "Bland and Dull" cables for anything! :eyebrows:

Mind you, I'm using Nordost Bassline XLR cables between my pre and power amps. Actually designed as a subwoofer cable, but works very well fullrange, and doesn't have the typical Nordost excitable top-end. I picked them up on eBay for £30. :)

I must admit that these look interesting - I was thinking of trying out a pair myself.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bryston-Style-60cm-Gold-XLR-balanced-Silver-interconnect-cables-x2-Krell-Chord-/300647088894?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item45fff682fe

[Reid Malenfant]

No idea what the cable is but at least they are using gold plated Neutriks :)



VdH? - I'm not sure I would recommend "Bland and Dull" cables for anything! :eyebrows:
:rfl: They work superbly as digital cables Jerry, you are right though, I wouldn't put an analogue signal through them either ;)

[technobear]

I use these:

http://www.xindak.com/english/soundright/showdetail.asp?id=4

...and very nice they are too!

[Chops]

My personal experience of XLR vs single ended RCA wasn't so good.
I tried Chord Anthem 2 XLR vs Chord Chorus 2 RCA between my pre and power (EAR 868 and 890). The XLRs just seemed to have a flatter, slightly less resolved presentation. Same result (maybe not as evident) between QBD76 DAC and pre.
Based on what I had read, I was really hoping for the opposite effect but it was not to be.
I'm not technical but I understand that the EARs are both single ended in design so achieve balanced by putting extra transformers in the signal path (am I right, anyone?). Not sure about the QBD76. Signal paths were fairly short.
Happy with my G2000HDs at the moment. They were clearly better that the Chord Chorus 2s - more neutral, more detailed. Saved some money;)

Chris

[DSJR]

The whole point about going balanced is to minimise any difference the cable makes as well as minimise interference over very long runs and in practice, I found this is what generally happens.

HOWEVER, most gear isn't balanced internally, so you have to convert at source and convert back at the receiving end - loads of extra circuitry....

One reason why I admire the old Levinson ML28 preamp is because I understood that it was fully balanced all the way through, using the best and most stable components available back then.....