A balanced XLR cable has 2 driven legs and a separate ground. If one leg -- either the Plus or the Inverted -- were not connected, you'd get signal, but the result would be down about 3 db from normal. Sounds like what you've got.
Electrical properties of cables
I'm running a pair of 1 meter XLR VDH cables from a Benchmark DAC to a Bryston Pre. The sound in one channel is ever so slightly louder (1dB?) than the other. I especially noticed this with a 1kHz test tone while flipping the mono/stereo switch. This problem follows the cable when swapping channels. They pass a continuity check but I haven't ohm'd them out yet.
Any other suggestions before I toss them out? By the way, the custom Canare/Neutriks work just fine in this application.
Any other suggestions before I toss them out? By the way, the custom Canare/Neutriks work just fine in this application.