Jafox wrote:
What the dealer most likely meant is that not all XLR cables have a three-wire configuration. There are some cables on the market (such as the Audience Maestro) that are designed to be used in single-ended configurations. They are made of a single pair of wire - one for hot, one for ground.
In order to be used with XLR connectors, they use one wire for hot, one for negative, and use the wire shield to connect the ground pins.
These cables would, of course, pass a continuity test with a meter; however, using the shield to connect the ground pins is sub-optimal.
blilikoi: What I suspect the dealer meant was that many electronic components with XLR connections are not truly balanced. However, it is very easy to determine if ICs with XLR connectors are balanced: verify with a multi-meter that all three pins are one to one from one end to the other and none are shorted to each other.
What the dealer most likely meant is that not all XLR cables have a three-wire configuration. There are some cables on the market (such as the Audience Maestro) that are designed to be used in single-ended configurations. They are made of a single pair of wire - one for hot, one for ground.
In order to be used with XLR connectors, they use one wire for hot, one for negative, and use the wire shield to connect the ground pins.
These cables would, of course, pass a continuity test with a meter; however, using the shield to connect the ground pins is sub-optimal.