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Author Topic: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?  (Read 20578 times)

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Offline edtyre

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XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« on: July 23, 2010, 05:25:38 PM »
For my open rig   cmc6>v3>ad2k+
i have been using 2 short pairs of canare starquad with Neutrik connectors
and also some of our TS.com cablers milspec silver cables. I like the copper better.
I think my rig sounds great.

I was at a show last month and saw that a taper was using $2,000 cables for both short
runs like i have in my setup. Thats 4 fucking grand for two sets of cables!! He claims the sonic difference
is 40% better quality than what i'm using. Geez his cables cost more than his V-3, Mytek and 722.

Anybody here use extremely high end mic cables? How much better does it really sound?

I tryed $1,000 speaker wires and could not tell the difference from my $150.00 set.
music>mics>pre>recorder

Offline 12milluz

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2010, 05:51:08 PM »
That's madness. I would never buy cables that expensive. I can see buying nice handmade ones for their build quality, but seriously? I mean yes, there will be differences in the makeup of the metal that MAY affect the sound, but come on. Buy some nice mics or something instead. And how does he measure this "40% better quality than what you are using?"
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Offline DigiGal

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2010, 06:06:58 PM »
I use Canare starquad cable with Neutrik XLR connectors too. 

IMHO $2,000 mic cables are snake oil much like this laugh quoted from the burning in silver cables thread.

I like this one, guys...

http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm
« Last Edit: July 23, 2010, 06:48:39 PM by DigiGal »
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Offline sparkey

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2010, 11:58:19 PM »
$4K on cables is all relative...if you've got a $100K+ playback system, then getting the expensive stuff may be more in line.  It just sounds like that guy wanted something to crow about, honestly.

I use actives into some custom shorty xlr's that I plug into the 722, Canare cable and Neutrik connectors.  I've also got some Audio Magic cables that were pretty spendy (I picked them up as a package deal) which I never use; they're only 10'.
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Offline yug du nord

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #4 on: July 24, 2010, 12:52:08 AM »
Well I know there is no such thing as a $100K pair of microphones!

I'll sell ya a pair for $100K......   with wind screens........  let me know.  ;) ;)
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Offline rastasean

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2010, 10:04:21 PM »
$4K on cables is all relative...if you've got a $100K+ playback system, then getting the expensive stuff may be more in line.  It just sounds like that guy wanted something to crow about, honestly.

I use actives into some custom shorty xlr's that I plug into the 722, Canare cable and Neutrik connectors.  I've also got some Audio Magic cables that were pretty spendy (I picked them up as a package deal) which I never use; they're only 10'.

of course this is all relative. its relative to where the mics were when he records AUDIENCE sound from a PA system. so I don't think the playback is the only thing that makes a difference. the mics, the pre-amp, the recorder, the mic position, the mic height, the wind screens, and of course the music--if its crappy with the best speaker wire in the world (ones going to and from your ears), it will be crappy on any playback.
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Offline Walstib62

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2010, 10:35:50 AM »
For my open rig   cmc6>v3>ad2k+
i have been using 2 short pairs of canare starquad with Neutrik connectors
and also some of our TS.com cablers milspec silver cables. I like the copper better.
I think my rig sounds great.

I was at a show last month and saw that a taper was using $2,000 cables for both short
runs like i have in my setup. Thats 4 fucking grand for two sets of cables!! He claims the sonic difference
is 40% better quality than what i'm using. Geez his cables cost more than his V-3, Mytek and 722.

Anybody here use extremely high end mic cables? How much better does it really sound?

I tryed $1,000 speaker wires and could not tell the difference from my $150.00 set.
I know the guy that sold him the cables is happy!
Did you get his name, maybe he's ready to buy more stuff? :laugh:

Offline macdaddy

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2010, 02:26:52 PM »
2x pair of Short, stubby, right angle (~1 ft) runs of darktrain xlrs (s42 > aerco) and (aerco > ad2k+). I had Jerry mod the aerco so it has xlr out as well as xlr in.
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Offline yug du nord

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #8 on: July 31, 2010, 11:01:50 PM »
I had Jerry mod the aerco so it has xlr out as well as xlr in.

Are the outs balanced?  I think that I read on his site that he could do both XLR ins and outs...  but the XLR outs would still be unbalanced.  Just curious.
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Offline Shadow_7

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #9 on: July 31, 2010, 11:58:10 PM »
Heh.   Modern day pet rocks.  $129 per pebble.  I'm in the wrong business.  If you're at that level, perhaps plating your studio in copper and putting your rack in a bomb shelter several feet underground is the way the go.  Plus the souvenir tin foil hat.

I use mogami quad cores.  And two short live wire (hosa?) ones because you can't buy 1' shorties at GC for mogami.  and I don't need 3' ones to make the 6" loop between preamps and field recorder.  Not at $10 a foot anyway.  If cables are that important, you're probably better off going with shorter, than pricier cables.  The only real difference I notice in cables in shielding.  They either protect you from interference, or they don't.

Offline bugg100

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2010, 03:26:11 PM »
Next time you bump into this taper in the field, ask him who remade the internal wiring/circuit boards on all his gear.   Weakest link in the chain, right? >:D

Offline live2496

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2010, 09:50:52 PM »
Remember that balanced lines reduce any equal amount of induced noise in both sets of wires.  I'm not sure what paying $2K is going to get you that a well made set with well shielded, quality wire won't. All wire is going to have some level of induced noise. But common mode rejection is used to eliminate the noise.

I run Rapco wire and solder my own. I think good shielding helps and also twisted pair wiring for the pins two and three helps keep noise at a minimum too.




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Offline Dkrogh

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #12 on: August 04, 2010, 07:43:38 AM »
I personally use cables that I made myself.  No issues whatsoever.

2K in cables is nonsense. 
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Offline jlykos

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #13 on: August 05, 2010, 06:15:55 AM »
I use Moon Audio Silver Dragon cables in both a XLR pair and a 1/8" interconnect.  XLR cables were $400 for the pair and the interconnect was around $100.  These are eight-wire solid silver conductor shielded cables with gold Neutrik XLR connectors.  The interconnect is the same, but with right-angle gold Switchcraft connectors.  Everything is handmade.  Expensive?  Yes.  But they are also the most revealing cables with the highest build quality of any that I have ever used.

Experts say that a good rule of thumb is to spend around 10% of the value of your playback system on cables.  Extending this to my recording system, I am around that figure, maybe closer to 15%.  I don't have a problem with this.  Even I think that a $2000 pair of cables would be overkill in my system.  But if I had $20,000 of recording equipment, I may change my tune after auditioning various cables.

As a point of comparison, I have used Canare StarQuad, Audio Magic X-Stream, and Monster Cables in my system.  The Moon Audios beat them hands, down.  Monster Cables were pure garbage; so muddy that I thought that something was wrong with my system.  The Canare and the Audio Magic were so close that I would have been happy with either.  But to say that "all cables sound the same" is just wrong, IMHO, as my Monster Cable experience shows.
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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #14 on: August 05, 2010, 09:29:02 AM »
I don't think you should ever cheap on cables but spending half the value of your rig on cabling is ludicrous.  There differences ARE there, I've defintiely heard them, but it's not good enough to really make it worth it for me.  Not with the recordings I make or my playback system at the moments.

My cables just need to be reliable and not be noisy.  Two things that a cheap cable will not provide, but is a little overkill to buy >$1,000 mic cables.
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Offline live2496

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #15 on: August 05, 2010, 06:27:45 PM »
I use Moon Audio Silver Dragon cables in both a XLR pair and a 1/8" interconnect.

Do they sell this particular balanced cabling by the foot?


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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #16 on: August 06, 2010, 04:18:23 AM »
I use Moon Audio Silver Dragon cables in both a XLR pair and a 1/8" interconnect.

Do they sell this particular balanced cabling by the foot?

Yes.  You can get any length that you want.  My XLR cables are 15' each and the interconnect is 2'.
dpa 4061 > Church Audio 9200 > Sony PCM-D50 (Moon Audio Silver Dragon v3 interconnect)

"I have no views," Mickey Melchiondo, known as Dean Ween, said in a philosophical moment. "I am way too stupid. I have no strong feelings about anything. I'm really into television and the computer. I believe everything I see on TV and read on the Internet."

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #17 on: August 09, 2010, 04:13:24 PM »
All I can find on their website is silver plated copper wire, not solid silver for XLR mic cable in the bulk raw cable.  Do you have a link for bulk solid silver?

And fwiw, Zaolla solid silver cable just above cost here:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=126561.0
« Last Edit: August 09, 2010, 04:33:49 PM by kirkd »

Offline jlykos

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #18 on: August 10, 2010, 03:37:46 AM »
All I can find on their website is silver plated copper wire, not solid silver for XLR mic cable in the bulk raw cable.  Do you have a link for bulk solid silver?

And fwiw, Zaolla solid silver cable just above cost here:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=126561.0

http://www.moon-audio.com/Moon_Audio_Interconnects.htm

They can terminate the cables in the XLR plug of your choice.  I have gold Neutriks; they can also do Switchcraft and I believe WBT and Furutech, although the cost for those was prohibitive.  If you don't want silver, you can also choose Black Dragon which are copper.  Blue Dragons are budget Silver Dragons; they have four wires instead of the eight found on the Silver Dragons.  I probably sound like a shill for these guys, but they are very nice cables.

From the website (Silver Dragon v2 description):

"We are still using an 8 wire braided geometry made up of solid core 99.999% pure silver 26AWG Teflon insulated wire, but we have modified the braiding and have added an external shield to the mix."
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"I have no views," Mickey Melchiondo, known as Dean Ween, said in a philosophical moment. "I am way too stupid. I have no strong feelings about anything. I'm really into television and the computer. I believe everything I see on TV and read on the Internet."

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #19 on: August 10, 2010, 09:40:23 AM »
Right, I saw that you can order cables made, but I don't see any place to buy just the cable without ends...of course I may be overlooking it but it seems that you can only get solid silver if you order pre made cables?

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #20 on: August 10, 2010, 12:36:18 PM »
Right, I saw that you can order cables made, but I don't see any place to buy just the cable without ends...of course I may be overlooking it but it seems that you can only get solid silver if you order pre made cables?

I don't know.  You can always call Drew over there and ask.  He can terminate it in anything that you ask for.  If you insist on doing it yourself, you can give him a call and see if he can sell you some unterminated cable.
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"I have no views," Mickey Melchiondo, known as Dean Ween, said in a philosophical moment. "I am way too stupid. I have no strong feelings about anything. I'm really into television and the computer. I believe everything I see on TV and read on the Internet."

Offline JasonSobel

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #21 on: August 10, 2010, 02:49:18 PM »
what I find most interesting is how each of us has our own perspective on where you hit the point of diminishing returns.

I use Moon Audio Silver Dragon cables in both a XLR pair and a 1/8" interconnect.  XLR cables were $400 for the pair and the interconnect was around $100.

As a point of comparison, I have used Canare StarQuad, Audio Magic X-Stream, and Monster Cables in my system.  The Moon Audios beat them hands, down.  Monster Cables were pure garbage; so muddy that I thought that something was wrong with my system.  The Canare and the Audio Magic were so close that I would have been happy with either.  But to say that "all cables sound the same" is just wrong, IMHO, as my Monster Cable experience shows.

Now, I don't doubt that the Moon Audio Silver Dragon cables are very nice cables that are well constructed.  but here you freely admit that a pair of Canare Starquad cables were very close, and that you would have been happy with them.  I don't have any direct experience with Audio Magic cables, and I don't know how much they cost, so I'll just leave those alone.  But I know you can easily get a 15' canare starquad for somewhere in the $50 range.  I know because that's what I use.  The raw starquad cable is inexpensive, and then the XLR connectors vary in cost, depending if you get right-angle or not.  and by soldering them myself, I know it's well constructed with solid connections.

Anyway, my point is that you yourself found this $50 cable to be almost the same sounding as your $400 Moon Audio cables.  Personally, I have a hard time justifying that additional expense.  Obviously, I reach the point of diminishing returns a lot quicker than you.  I'm not saying your decision is a bad one, just different from the one that I would have made.

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #22 on: August 10, 2010, 03:54:47 PM »
I like your input, Jason.

Another thing to consider is that when we are taping, alcohol is usually being consumed by the tapers and by at least 90% of the audience attending so you may get a little forgetful where you put things. What would be worse, losing a $30-50 1 foot 1/8" interconnect cable or a $400 cable? Sure an expensive cable may sound nice but not if you lose it and you wouldn't want to replace it with something less superior. Just because pros use high quality recorders, cables, memory cards, bags, boom poles, shockmounts, microphones, wind screens, headphones, etc, doesn't mean they know HOW to use it.
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Offline live2496

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #23 on: August 10, 2010, 04:20:51 PM »
The main thing I got from this thread was a curiousity about whether or not the silver cables sound better. Silver being a better conductor. Does better signal transfer = better sound?

All of my mic cables are quad cable. So the conductors are fairly small and the wiring is twisted in pairs to help reduce noise. Shielding is also excellent. And I have a pair made that are 100 ft long.

I wonder whether or not the silver wire which I assume is thicker than quad cable is more susceptible to noise. And I also wonder about why a company like Mogami who has done lots of research in this area doesn't sell them.

If silver cables are the way to go I would like to make a pair or get some made. But if the quad cable is comparative in performance I might not bother.
 
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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #24 on: August 10, 2010, 04:42:25 PM »
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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #25 on: August 10, 2010, 07:20:22 PM »
The Moon Audio and Audio Magic are two different cables.  He is saying that the Audio magic and Canare are almost the same not the Moon Audio which is an entirely different company.  Of course this all leads into the cable wars which go on and on with no one really winning.  Fwiw, I think I hear a difference in the solid silver Zaolla cables I own compared to the copper Canare cables.  I say "think" because I have never done a side by side comparison that could be directly compared to each other.  I do know that shielding is more important than ever in today's wireless world.  RFI is everywhere!  The theory is that the silver cables deliver a "better" signal.  Does silver plated VS solid silver matter?  I don't know.  Can yuo hear the difference?  I guess that depends on what shape your hearing is in, what you are recording with and what you are recording and your playback system.  And just to be clear, I run a bunch of different cable.  Canare, Zaolla, Belden, Gepco to name a few.   And as for being insistant on building my own, well yes for the most part.  It's cheaper than having someone else make them for me.  I can solder more than well enough to make cable so why pay someone else a lot of money to do it.  I was just wondering if they sold bulk because It is very hard to find solid silver quad mic cable.  The silver plated is easy to find IE: the Belden silvers that you see offered for sale. 

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #26 on: August 10, 2010, 07:48:35 PM »
The Moon Audio and Audio Magic are two different cables. 

yes, I am aware of that

He is saying that the Audio magic and Canare are almost the same not the Moon Audio which is an entirely different company.

Is that what Jamie (jlykos) is saying?  This is what he said:

As a point of comparison, I have used Canare StarQuad, Audio Magic X-Stream, and Monster Cables in my system.  The Moon Audios beat them hands, down.  Monster Cables were pure garbage; so muddy that I thought that something was wrong with my system.  The Canare and the Audio Magic were so close that I would have been happy with either.  But to say that "all cables sound the same" is just wrong, IMHO, as my Monster Cable experience shows.

It is not entirely clear.  Is Jamie saying that the Canare and Audio Magic cables are close to each other?  Perhaps, but then he says that he'd be happy with either.  And he chose to go with the Moon Audio cables.  But because he'd be happy with either the Canare or the Audio Magic, I read into it that both the Canare and Audio Magic were close to the Moon Audio.  Perhaps I read into that too far, but I don't think so.  It would be nice if Jamie popped back into this thread and clarified his opinion.

Of course this all leads into the cable wars which go on and on with no one really winning.

yes and no.  I'm not interested in "winning".  Nor am I interested in getting into a debate about whether or not there is an audible difference between cables.

what I am interested in hearing is this: Jamie said that he'd be happy with either the Canare or Audio Magic.  But instead, he chose to spend significant more money on the Moon Audio cables.  I'd like to hear more about his reasoning.  It seems obvious (but perhaps it isn't) that Jamie thinks the difference in sound quality is worth the extra money.  In other words, even though he would be happy with the Canare or Audio Magic cables, he is more happy with the Moon Audio.  and willing to spend a lot more to get that incremental difference.  But again, I'd like to hear more from Jamie.  What specifically does he hear with the Moon Audio cables that is better than the others.  I'm genuinely curious.


I do know that shielding is more important than ever in today's wireless world.  RFI is everywhere!  The theory is that the silver cables deliver a "better" signal.  Does silver plated VS solid silver matter?  I don't know.  Can you hear the difference?  I guess that depends on what shape your hearing is in, what you are recording with and what you are recording and your playback system.

absolutely, the shield is very important.  I think the Canare braided shield does a wonderful job.  I've never heard any noise on any of my recordings.  and I've certainly been in lots of small clubs with lots of RFI...  is the Moon Audio shield better?  is it measurably better?  If the purpose is to block out noise, in order to be better, there would have to be a side-by-side, and you get noise in one recording, and not in the other.  do you agree?

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #27 on: August 11, 2010, 12:50:11 AM »
while we haven't brought up hdmi cables, I thought I would share this link:
http://reviews.cnet.com/hdmi-cable/

CNET doesn't think more than $10 should be paid on a single hdmi cable since they don't think any difference exists between a cable $10 or less and a $50 cable.
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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #28 on: August 11, 2010, 03:40:17 AM »
The Moon Audio and Audio Magic are two different cables. 

yes, I am aware of that

He is saying that the Audio magic and Canare are almost the same not the Moon Audio which is an entirely different company.

Is that what Jamie (jlykos) is saying?  This is what he said:

As a point of comparison, I have used Canare StarQuad, Audio Magic X-Stream, and Monster Cables in my system.  The Moon Audios beat them hands, down.  Monster Cables were pure garbage; so muddy that I thought that something was wrong with my system.  The Canare and the Audio Magic were so close that I would have been happy with either.  But to say that "all cables sound the same" is just wrong, IMHO, as my Monster Cable experience shows.

It is not entirely clear.  Is Jamie saying that the Canare and Audio Magic cables are close to each other?  Perhaps, but then he says that he'd be happy with either.  And he chose to go with the Moon Audio cables.  But because he'd be happy with either the Canare or the Audio Magic, I read into it that both the Canare and Audio Magic were close to the Moon Audio.  Perhaps I read into that too far, but I don't think so.  It would be nice if Jamie popped back into this thread and clarified his opinion.

I said that the Canare and the Audio Magic cables were comparable.  I did not mention Moon Audio or Monster as a point of comparison between those two.  I guess that I should have specified that I used the Audio Magic X-Stream cables, which are silver-plated copper, not pure silver.  The Moon Audio cables sound better than anything that I have used.  Whether I find the diminishing point of return to be $100 (used) for the Audio Magics or $400 (new) for the Moon Audios is all of my concern and none of anybody else's.

To make everything clear, here are my cable preferences in order from best to worst:

Moon Audio Silver Dragon v2


Audio Magic X-Stream
Canare StarQuad








Monster whatever the hell I used.
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Offline jlykos

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #29 on: August 11, 2010, 03:44:01 AM »
while we haven't brought up hdmi cables, I thought I would share this link:
http://reviews.cnet.com/hdmi-cable/

CNET doesn't think more than $10 should be paid on a single hdmi cable since they don't think any difference exists between a cable $10 or less and a $50 cable.

I think that there is some truth to that.  From what I have read and understand, there are few differences between most digital cables.  I would think that most of the differences between HDMI cables (as well as optical and coaxial S/PDIF) are in the connectors and shielding used instead of in the cable itself.  I don't have too much experience with digital cables, however, so I really can't comment on whether this applies in the "real world" with different brands of cables.
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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #30 on: August 11, 2010, 02:46:01 PM »
Jason,   As for what I hear, and at the risk of using terms that cannot be defined scientifically, I hear a richer low end and what seems to me to be a more detailed sound across all frequencies with the silver cables as opposed to the copper.  And yet I also feel like the highs are sometimes almost to high with the silver.  I also believe that I would be hard pressed to find any real "problems" with the copper cables, and just to be clear when I say copper I do mean things like the Canare Gepco, Belden or any of the better coppers that have shielding.    As for RFI rejection, is there a good, better, best type of shielding...I don't really know.  I do know that I am slowly phasing out any of the cables I have that are not shielded.  IN fact just last weekend I ended up with a cell phone noise in one of the eight channels I was running due to a non shielded cable.  But since I am running an 8 track recorder with various preamps I don't want to spend the money all at once to switch out the non shielded stuff.  The other thing I have noticed with the various solid silver cables is that they seem to be a much beefer cable, thicker jackets along with thicker layers of insulation internally.  I say solid silvers because the Belden silver plated is just the opposite with a much narrower diameter.  If I had the money I would run all silver cables.  I'd opt to get the highest quality I could.  Would the difference or even perceived difference be worth it?  It would to me.  But then it might not be to someone else.   IN the big picture I think we all agree that not using the cheapest cables is best.  Using cables with a decent shield in necessary.  Beyond that I think the Copper VS Silver  becomes more a personal choice.  and like you said the only real way is to do a side be side comparison, but setting up a test that is exactly the same except for cables is not that easy.  Even differences of a few inches in mic placement can make a difference and it would have to be the exact same material etc, etc. 

Offline splumer

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #31 on: August 13, 2010, 11:34:59 AM »
while we haven't brought up hdmi cables, I thought I would share this link:
http://reviews.cnet.com/hdmi-cable/

CNET doesn't think more than $10 should be paid on a single hdmi cable since they don't think any difference exists between a cable $10 or less and a $50 cable.

Harbor Freight Tools actually had HDMI cables for $8 or so.

Are you sure Mr. $2k Cables was telling the truth? For that much money, you should be able to pull a truck out of the mud with them! Beyond a certain point, you just can't get any better, at least in listening quality. There may be measurable differences, but as to whether you could hear a difference, I'm very skeptical about high-priced cables. I use Belden wire with Neutrik XLR connectors, assembled by a dude I used to work with who repaired our equipment. He always said for most applications, standard cables in the $20 - $50 range were fine. The only time one should consider more-expensive cables would be for a recording studio.

But I did see XLR cables in the closeout aisle at Wal Mart once...
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Offline live2496

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #32 on: August 13, 2010, 02:31:01 PM »
I found this interesting statement on the silveraudio.com site. See http://www.silveraudio.com/faqs.htm

Quote
At audio frequencies however, any effect silver plated conductors (not connectors) MIGHT have on the signal could only be bad. At audio frequencies, otherwise small differences in simple DC resistance significantly alters impedance. Therefore, the presence of both silver and copper in the signal path is capable of creating two different, frequency dependant, conductive pathways to the signal which is a non-linearity that NO audio cable should be causing, especially not a "high-end" audio cable!

Their position is that solid silver is better and they use an 8 conductor design which sounds like the same thing jlykos mentioned as being implemented in the Moon Audio cable he uses.

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Offline it-goes-to-eleven

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #33 on: August 13, 2010, 02:34:53 PM »
I wonder whether or not the silver wire which I assume is thicker than quad cable is more susceptible to noise. And I also wonder about why a company like Mogami who has done lots of research in this area doesn't sell them.

The insulation material is perhaps far more significant.  The properties are also more easily measured.

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #34 on: August 14, 2010, 06:40:52 PM »
Ho Ho Silvers and am very happy with them still...
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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #35 on: August 20, 2010, 04:45:26 PM »
Happy with my Darktrain XLR cables and these will be hard to come by.
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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #36 on: August 30, 2010, 06:13:35 PM »
I just paid $59 each for two 50' XLR cables at a local store. RapcoHorizon Concert Series M5 copper I think. Came home, saw in the Markertek catalog prices ranging from $22 Supersavers to Mogami at $79 for 50 feet. I don't mind paying for quality, but did I pay too much? Seems for just a few dollars more I could get a 4-channel snake, which is what I really need.

Why do XLRs come with different number of conductors?

What does "RoHS" mean?

Offline notlance

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #37 on: August 30, 2010, 07:29:56 PM »
Approximately a buck a foot for mic cables is not out of line, so I would no worry about spending $59 for 50' cables.

XLRs have different number of conductors because sometimes three at once is not enough.  For example, many stereo mics use 5-pin XLRs, and you can get 5 conductor cables for them.  My "standard" mic cable has 5 conductors with 5-pin XLRs on both ends since I use stereo mics so much.  I also have a remotely controllable stereo mic that uses a 7 conductor cable and 7-pin XLRs.  Some gear uses a 4-pin XLR as a power connector.

As for the meaning of RoHS, Google it.

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #38 on: August 31, 2010, 08:44:57 AM »
RoHS = reduction of hazardous substances

Sounds like typical retail markup.  The advantage is you don't have to wait for the UPS guy.  And you get to choose the ones with the prettiest packaging.  And with a lifetime warranty, you have a human face to yell and scream at.

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #39 on: June 06, 2013, 12:56:14 PM »
For festival recording I use a pair of Kind Kables Chameleons, a pair of Kind Kables coppers and a pair of 30' Mogami Golds depending on the set up. I think as long as the cables are of decent quality you are ok but the custom stereo cables with stubbie or right angle ends are just easier to lug around and use than cables meant for stage use. And the price I paid for the Kind Kables is roughly equivalent to buying two quality stage cables.
« Last Edit: June 06, 2013, 01:00:23 PM by cybergaloot »
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Offline ScoobieKW

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #40 on: June 06, 2013, 01:40:48 PM »
RoHS = reduction of hazardous substances

Sounds like typical retail markup.  The advantage is you don't have to wait for the UPS guy.  And you get to choose the ones with the prettiest packaging.  And with a lifetime warranty, you have a human face to yell and scream at.

in our application RoHS refers to no lead content in electronics, ie solder and batteries.
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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #41 on: June 06, 2013, 02:37:43 PM »
My cables just need to be reliable and not be noisy.

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Outside of specific uses (e.g. thinner cable for certain uses or better insulated for harsher environments), I generally don't put much thought in it.
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Offline it-goes-to-eleven

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #42 on: June 06, 2013, 04:45:35 PM »
There is absolutely no difference. I use a 20 dollar cable and as long as they don't add noise or cross signals, or get radio interference they are all the same.

The impact of those factors will not always be obvious.

Not all cables are the same.  They don't even measure the same.

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Re: XLR Mic Cables - What Do You Use?
« Reply #43 on: June 17, 2013, 02:18:07 AM »


I like this one, guys...

http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm

man... I need some of those brilliant pebbles...

I'll need them on all of my cables...
How did I miss these things, I need a ton of these pebbles for all of my gear.
« Last Edit: June 17, 2013, 02:22:16 AM by ArchivalAudio »
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