1m XLR interconnect wanted

[Tim F]

After something relatively high end. I have pure sliver litz in at the moment. Not looking for £thousands.

Let me know what you have.

Cheers, Tim

[Non-Smoking Man]

I have 2 options : pair LAT International I C 200 MK 11; or Audionote Copper Lexus 50 strand (AN factory terminated). £100 plus delivery either pair.

[Tim F]

Looking for something higher end. Thanks for the offer!

[vintagesteve]

Not wanting to set the cat among the pigeons and fly in the face of popular hifi thinking, but frankly it will make little difference to the sound so long as an XLR lead is of decent quality, and well made. XLR leads are usually used at line level and as such the low impedance feed to them will be totally unaffected by the lead's resistance and impedance. Paying a lot of money for a 1m XLR may appease the brain but - in my opinion - have little effect on the ears. No offence meant to anyone.

[Lawrence001]

Not wanting to set the cat among the pigeons and fly in the face of popular hifi thinking, but frankly it will make little difference to the sound so long as an XLR lead is of decent quality, and well made. XLR leads are usually used at line level and as such the low impedance feed to them will be totally unaffected by the lead's resistance and impedance. Paying a lot of money for a 1m XLR may appease the brain but - in my opinion - have little effect on the ears. No offence meant to anyone.

A few people have said this, could you explain the properties of a balanced connection compared to single ended that makes the cable have no impact on the sound?

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[vintagesteve]

You're missing the point. I was not comparing balanced with single ended ie types of connections. That is well known and documented. I learnt about it in the 70s. Balanced lines (as in XLR connectors) reject common-mode interference. The lines have the same impedance to ground, so the interfering fields or currents induce the same voltage in both wires. That's a big plus, regardless. My original reason for not paying a lot of money for an XLR lead is there to read.

[Barry]

If you can solder Steve, you should be able to make up a pair of balanced cables terminated with XLR connectors for about £30; that is using quality professional cable off-the-drum and quality connectors (such as Neutrik, Cannon or Switchcraft).

[Bigman80]

Not wanting to set the cat among the pigeons and fly in the face of popular hifi thinking, but frankly it will make little difference to the sound so long as an XLR lead is of decent quality, and well made. XLR leads are usually used at line level and as such the low impedance feed to them will be totally unaffected by the lead's resistance and impedance. Paying a lot of money for a 1m XLR may appease the brain but - in my opinion - have little effect on the ears. No offence meant to anyone.

Apologies for this, but that's absolutely incorrect.

In balanced configuration, the differences may not be as pronounced as it is with unbalanced but in my experience it has less to do with the configuration and more to do with the plugs and sockets in use.

9 out of 10 balanced cables go via a phosphor bronze xlr connection with gold or silver plating.

Nearly every balanced cable has a neutrik plug, with brass pins on the end and nearly every xlr socket has brass pins.

When you get away from that nasty crap, and fit some copper/pure silver XLR plugs and sockets, the variation in cable performance become far more apparent.

This myth that balanced cables aren't as fussy or they are less susceptible to different quality of cable, is absolute 'Bro Science' stuff of myth.

I have repeated demonstrated this with balanced and unbalanced cables.

The op is right to look for quality but if his sockets are brass, then yes, it's a waste of time. You have to improve the connection material through the chain.

PS, if you don't believe me, try it for yourself. Xhadow plugs and silver sockets will change your opinion

[Lawrence001]

The thing that confuses me is when you look at all the different factors that make a cable sound the way it does (I'm excluding plugs here, just the materials and configuration of the cable itself), dialectric, conductivity, solid strand, multi core, litz, silver plated, pure silver, ofc, purity etc, what it is about a balanced configuration that means these make no difference when they make so much difference in a single ended cable?

I can't believe all these things are done to get round the limitations of a single ended design. Far easier surely just to design all kit in a balanced topology and buy the most basic cables?

Another possibility is that some who say that XLR cables make no difference may also be cable sceptics in general, in which case the balanced argument is moot. I'm just trying to understand what's at the root of this concept.

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[Bigman80]

The thing that confuses me is when you look at all the different factors that make a cable sound the way it does (I'm excluding plugs here, just the materials and configuration of the cable itself), dialectric, conductivity, solid strand, multi core, litz, silver plated, pure silver, ofc, purity etc, what it is about a balanced configuration that means these make no difference when they make so much difference in a single ended cable?

I can't believe all these things are done to get round the limitations of a single ended design. Far easier surely just to design all kit in a balanced topology and buy the most basic cables?

Another possibility is that some who say that XLR cables make no difference may also be cable sceptics in general, in which case the balanced argument is moot. I'm just trying to understand what's at the root of this concept.

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Using a balanced cable is by all means probably the best way to connect you system in terms of the protection the configuration offers to the signal, no argument there BUT the truth of the matter is, the design is aimed at 'pro audio' and isn't as good as Hi-End connections from a conductivity perspective .

It's the same as using Speakons. The conductivity of the Plugs and sockets, as the industry, just isn't as good as we have in the Audiophile world.

There is no reason that balanced cables can defy the physics of different metals.

The fact that the shit materials Int the connection interface is where this myth has come from. Honest;ly, if you change from the Neutrik rubbish (IMO) to something far better, you will hear that it makes a huge difference.