Balanced vs. Single Ended Interconnects

Is it worth getting some cheap Monoprice XLR cables

Yeah - I think it is worth it to try them.
I personally use Mogami and Neutrik, but I doubt it makes much difference in XLR.z
It should sound great… or as great as the same cheap cables it was recorded with in the studios.

you’ll be fine.

For whatever it's worth I have done a lot of critical listening over the years with a lot of different high-end audio equipment and at short distances (1/M - 1.5/M) and I have not noticed a difference in the music comparing XLR to RCA other than I acknowledge that when the volume is set at the same level the XLR cables are about 3dB louder. Therefore assuming your equipment has both RCA and XLR inputs and outputs I recommend staying with a good pair of RCA interconnects unless you are talking about extremely long runs.

If they sound the same, then other conclusion would be to just run XLRs.
They are more immune to noise.

 

I thought proper xlr cables used “common mode rejection”?

meaning the two half signals being 180 out of phase… thus cancelling out any real EMI/RFI when summed at the termination?

in other words, XRL cables with no shielding at all should work just the same…

but single ended RCA cables improve with proper sheathing?

 

I know I have a lot to learn in the balanced versus unbalanced cable department lol

I think you have learned it.

Though I may be mistaken, it looks to me that your Pathos Classic One Mkiii is not truly balanced. That is, it does not use differential circuitry; the balanced inputs are either transformer-coupled, or simply single-ended inputs on XLR connectors. If that's the case, you're not likely to get much (if any) benefit from using a balanced cable.

Even it is transformer coupled, one stills get the CMRR benefit from the XLRs.
(Those Jenson ISOmax couplers are used for the main reason in that they work.)

I outlined my experience in another post. XLR hiss through speakers - RCA silence. Can anyone explain this? Pre is Aesthetix Calypso - amp EAR 534. 

Did the amp hiss when the preamp was not powered?
If so, then the preamp was making the hiss.

I'm sure that I could borrow cables from a friend.  I am a fan of Blue Jeans Cables, but it would cost $60 plus shipping which is starting to be a significant amount of the $200ish that I'll eventually spend on Audioquest Red River cables.  I think the Monoprice cables would run under $20 and I have been using them at my church for quite a few years without issue.

@mceljo maybe the padre would let you borrow a set to try at home?
If they work fine at church, they should work at home.

Now you talkin’! A very solid thought!

@audphile1 he already knows those cables from his/her church, and doesn’t want to spend $20 to try them out.

They say that the lord works in strange ways.

What’s next…a speaker from an ice cream truck? They work just fine there, should work at home. 

He did not mention that he uses monoprice XLRs on an ice cream truck.

It sounds like a sherbet to try those too. 😎

OK @mceljo - if you do not want to take the time and try them, then it will be hard to determine if the inexpensive ones will work just fine or not… and also will be hard to understand what the $200 cables would do that the cheaper ones would not do.

Someone needs to mess with building them, either you pay someone, or you build them yourself.

Obviously I like the convenience of being able to build them in the specific length, on a Sunday when the stores are closed.

A balanced vs single ended cable, both being of similar CONFIGURATION,

They are not the same configuration. For starters on have 3 wires and the other has 2,

will transmit the waveform with identical defeciencies, therefore sound the same.  The balanced cable however will show a +6 dB gain over the other.

Maybe SNR not gain?

  There is also some immunity to common mode noise, usually a minor consideration. 

When did CMRR become a minor consideration?

ohlala - If you're connecting to an unbalanced component then balanced cable provides no benefit.  If it's a cable designed for an unbalanced connection that just has an XLR connector then I'd anticipate that it would perform nearly identically to a standard unbalanced cable.  If it's a cable designed for a balanced connection with an RCA connector, then I'd anticipate that it might perform poorly since it's being used in the wrong application

It is sort of the other way around.
Using an XLR into an RCA adapter, with say the starquad cable one should see:

• slightly better immunity to magnetically induced signal from the starquad cancelation (Pretty subtle I would think)
  • and all the CMRR advantage is lost.
• a higher amount of capacitance (maybe double?)
• probably a bit more immunity to ground loop as there is a wire and a shield (in parallel) to couple the ground between the chassis. (Maybe half?)

The main reason I would use an XLR cable in that scenario is that one could use XLR, or they could decide to use the RCA with the adapters.

Basically when the 3 wires of the XLR are made into a 2 wire system, it is equivalent to the 2 wire cable. But one cannot decombine a 2 wire cable back into a 3 wire cable.

As you know most pro audio is balanced. If you had significant runs and problems with ground loops and hum, then the XLR is your friend.
If the lengths are short, and there is not hum, then one may not hear any difference… because there probably is not any significant difference.

FWIW, I used the cables Ralph sold me with his amps/preamps(-Mogami), when my dealer recommended AQ, I really couldn't hear much of a difference, despite the AQ being significantly more expensive. (I forget the model, but they did not have the dielectric system). Once again, YMMV.

@gdnrbob I am making some cables up in the silver cotton insulated wire, and will then use a shield which is either a large wound around it all, or a weaved jacket.

I doubt it will make much of a difference, but I can make another pair if you want to try that approach. And as Ralph says it doesn’t matter, then it may not make sense.

But if there is any truth the theory behind the DBS, then changing the dielectric to cotton will mitigate them needing to be biased, as cotton does not likely polarise like teflon.

I need some short ones for the TT to phono and then to the preamp, so I figured, “What the heck”

holmz ,

I am up to any trial you would want to perform.

Though I am an adherent to the new AQ cables, I am open to trying new things-esp, things that have an intrinsic scientific background- like using cotton instead of a DBS system.

You only know when you try it. And, as a gardener, I'll try anything-Except incest.😉

B

I’ll message you, and find out the length.
If you don’t keep them, then I can recycle them back into another cable.