Best XLR Cables (Often A Weak Link)

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[00:01:00] And welcome to episode 58 of the podcasting simplified podcast.

[00:01:04] My name is Ross and I hope everyone is doing great today.

[00:01:09] Today we're going to talk about some XLR cables for your microphone.

[00:01:15] And I know that might not seem like the most important thing or the most exciting thing.

[00:01:20] It is often the weak link in your audio signal chain so that includes everything from your

[00:01:26] microphone to your interface, to your preamps, to your mixers, all that stuff.

[00:01:32] Connects together and the cable can be an area that is lacking or if you have lots of

[00:01:42] interference or even things like cell phones with their audio signals can actually get picked

[00:01:46] up if you don't have a shielded cable.

[00:01:49] So these things are important.

[00:01:51] And it might be something to look into if you're having issues or maybe you have a better

[00:01:57] higher end microphone, you want to pair it with a good cable.

[00:02:02] And they can wear out like I said, they can pick up interference or different materials

[00:02:08] will conduct electricity better or worse than others.

[00:02:11] Gold is one that conducts really well.

[00:02:14] For example, and silver but there's different materials.

[00:02:17] So some terms you might see is balanced and unbalanced, lower high impedance, conductor

[00:02:24] material, strand count and others.

[00:02:27] And it can definitely get confusing.

[00:02:29] So we're not going to go deep into all that stuff.

[00:02:32] I'm just going to highlight some of the best ones among a few different price points.

[00:02:37] I kind of picked some ranges and so we'll have budget cables, mid range cables and high

[00:02:43] end XLR cables.

[00:02:46] For the most part, they fit into those different categories.

[00:02:49] So we'll start with the budget options.

[00:02:51] First one is Planet Waves Classic Series and they're offered in 10, 25 and 50 foot lengths.

[00:02:59] And the connectors are nickel plated brass and they offer a limited lifetime guarantee.

[00:03:04] So works great, doesn't cost a ton and they have some decent lengths you can use.

[00:03:10] And the next one is HOSA Pro.

[00:03:12] And so this is a really popular budget XLR cable.

[00:03:15] There's a ton of different lengths ranging from everywhere, from three feet all the way

[00:03:18] to 100 feet and they use silver plated connectors from Neutric and these 20 gauge two conductor

[00:03:27] shielded cables.

[00:03:28] So that'll help protect from interference and stuff.

[00:03:31] So that was, that's a great way to go for the budget option, the HOSA Pro.

[00:03:36] And then I don't know how to say this, Lix likes Pro.

[00:03:39] They have a bunch of different colors.

[00:03:41] This is kind of cool.

[00:03:42] They have lengths from 1.5 feet all the way up to 100 feet and what I like with the different

[00:03:48] colors is it helps keep things, you know, it's easy to tell, you know, this one is microphone

[00:03:53] one and this one's microphone two by having different colors.

[00:03:56] You don't need to use labels for instance and maybe you just want it for, for the look

[00:04:01] of it if you have like a color scheme going or something, you can always choose something

[00:04:08] that matches that as well which is kind of cool.

[00:04:11] And the cables are 24 gauge oxygen free copper and they have a twin conductive PVC inner

[00:04:16] shields, 98% berated and a cotton yarn wrap which helps reduce noise.

[00:04:26] Contacts are gold plated and the connectors are really solid.

[00:04:30] I have one of these and they work great and they're not really thick so they're pretty flexible

[00:04:38] if you need to kind of bend them around stuff which is another thing to consider that

[00:04:43] you'll find different thicknesses and sometimes that can affect what you're trying to do.

[00:04:49] Now we're going to move on to the mid range category and we have a couple here.

[00:04:53] The first one is Mogami Silver and this is a really popular high end XLR cable brand

[00:05:01] and the silver line is actually their budget line but it fits into the mid range as far

[00:05:06] as pricing and they have a few different lengths.

[00:05:10] Three six, 15 and 25 feet is what I've seen and this is a great option to go with well

[00:05:18] known well known brand that is well supported and then another one in the mid range category

[00:05:23] is Rapco Horizon.

[00:05:25] There's another really popular one.

[00:05:27] They use nutrient connectors copper conductor and shield and really durable PVC jackets

[00:05:35] that go around everything and they work great for both stage and studio use.

[00:05:42] Those are a few of the mid range ones and then the high end XLR cables we're going to

[00:05:47] have another one from Mogami with their gold studio version.

[00:05:55] I actually think that high end these kind of higher end cables are probably overkill for

[00:06:00] most home studios but if you want the best, they definitely

[00:06:05] are available.

[00:06:07] They are excellent at reducing noise and we'll give you the best possible sound quality

[00:06:12] and the least amount of interference.

[00:06:16] The gold studio cables use a balanced four conductor cable and it's known to reduce unwanted

[00:06:22] noise radio frequency interference and much better than other two conductor cables.

[00:06:30] I actually have a post on this and you can see a little picture of what the inside

[00:06:35] of the Mogami gold studio cable looks like if you're interested.

[00:06:40] You can go to podcastinsights.com slash 58 if you want to take a look at that.

[00:06:48] Another benefit of going all the way to the top here is you'll never have to upgrade

[00:06:52] them or worry about them.

[00:06:54] The only thing is they could wear out but they also want to make sure you get a

[00:07:00] certified cable, not a knockoff or something because they do have a good warranty as well.

[00:07:09] Also lengths are from two feet to 100 feet for that one and then basically the same name

[00:07:15] Mogami gold stage which is designed for stage use, live performances, a bit thicker and

[00:07:23] they have lengths 20, 30 and 50 feet and they have a lifetime no excuses warranty so it

[00:07:29] makes them worth the cost as well.

[00:07:33] That is the highlight of the XLR cables.

[00:07:37] There's lots of options out there.

[00:07:39] I've had some bundled with from road, they provide really good cables and then other

[00:07:46] ones have been bundled with the ATR 2100 comes with one which is decent as well so if you

[00:07:53] have one and it's working fine there's no need to go out and buy another one but if you

[00:07:58] really want to just upgrade a piece that can definitely be a weak link you might want

[00:08:06] to check out this post and find some options that fit your budget.

[00:08:12] I hope that was useful and we'll see you in the next episode.