XLR cables for a reasonable price?


I've seen lots of threads where it is stated that balanced components are "insensitive" to cables.  Does this mean that spending a lot of money on XLR cables is probably unnecessary, as it offers no sonic benefit over cheaper XLR cables?

I would like some recommendations on reasonably priced XLR cables that give excellent sonic performance.  Thanks for your replies.

hifinut51

Showing 1 response by tonyrox

I'm a Benchmark fanboi for sure but it's taken me a lot of years to arrive here, so take that for what it's worth.  My DAC3 HGC and AHB2 combo is the best combo I've ever had and the thing that stands out is the astounding S/N ratio, achieved through proper gain structure, shielding, clever power supply's, etc, and cabling is part of that program as well.  In my pro career balanced was the norm, and we'd usually use a DI box to include unbalanced sources, but inputs to the consoles were always balanced, so I was nodding my head at the tech info on the Benchmark site concerning Star-Quad topology.  You can't go wrong with Canare or Mogami 4-conductor cable, with a slight edge, IMO, going to Canare for a touch better EMI/RFi rejection.

Get you some quality cables and don't look back.
https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/116637511-the-importance-of-star-quad-microphone-cable