Are Expensive XLR Cables Worth It? (FAQ Series)
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- What's the difference between an $8 and $50 XLR cable? Do $50 mic cables make your recording sound better? Why pay so much for a cable? In this video, I address those questions and demonstrate the difference in shielding and test if there is any difference in tone based on the XLR cable you're using.
HQ Audio Of Review: podcastage.com/rev/xlrcable
00:00 - Introduction
00:15 - An Answer To The Question
01:06 - Build Quality
02:41 - Shielding Performance Measurement
06:05 - Noise Floor Measurement
07:50 - Do Cables Affect the Tone of Recording?
10:05 - Warranty of Cables
10:42 - Why Are Cables More Expensive?
11:05 - Who Should Buy Expensive Cables?
13:30 - Outro
NOTE 1: The frequency response measurements only cover 20Hz - 20kHz which is all most podcast producers and at home studio producers will encounter. The results may differ if you record high resolution with the intention of slowing down the audio. For most people 20Hz - 20kHz is more than sufficient.
NOTE 2: For non-reviews I typically record unprocessed audio and process in post. Here I mistakenly recorded the processed audio for my spoken word portions, and that processing was not good, so this is not a good representation of the sound of this mic. Sorry about that.
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51 seconds in and we already have the answer to the question, damn that's good, anti clickbait goodness. And then we go into all the interesting details. Loved the video and how you make them, keep it up!!
I liked the video because of that! Really helpful, because I'm not an audio guy - just curious :)
100% All great info.
Lol right. I can tell you for certain those Mogami cables in the pic are well worth the ridiculous price.
I wasn't sure but after switching from A 10$ lynx cable and seeing the reduction in background hum I'll never go back. In part thanks to the lifetime warranty.
Wow the test was amazing too, love mogami
I literally liked the video, subscribed and watched the whole thing because of that.
Gotta say that I absolutely LOVE the fact that you answered the question immediately and allowed people to checkout within the first 50 seconds rather than making me sit around till the end (or the middle somewhere) to get an answer. AND BECAUSE you did that, I stuck around for the entire video. Thank you!
SAME! Stayed for the reason.
Yep!
Me too!
same here
Exact same thing I was about to say took it right out of my mouth Now I'm sitting down and watching
Thank you Bandrew, precisely what I needed to know. I appreciate that you listed the pros of the low and high end cables rather than being a snob and saying the Amazon basics is complete trash.
Happy to help. It’s not about having the most expensive gear it’s about having gear that fits your needs and helps you get the job done. Sometimes that does mean expensive gear, other times it means, the affordable options are perfectly sufficient.
watcha doin here orange juice
hahaha you almost made me burn my amazon cable for another one.
Amazon cables may not be complete trash... But Amazon is trash. Huehuehue.
POSITIVE ELIXIR TRADE, ORANGE U R MY KINGGGGGG
you're the man. This is exactly the kind of video I needed.
This is the best practical demonstration on this topic I've ever seen/heard. I buy custom Mogami/Neutrik cables from my local pro audio shop. Always been solid and reliable.
Thanks so much Curtis. That means so much coming from you.
I care less about the cable than the connectors generally; if there aren't Neutriks on the end I'm probably not buying it.
That said I do try to stick with Cordial or Klotz for the cable too.
does custom cable gets lifetime warranty?
@@DarkPa1adin The cable itself does, yes. If one of the connections get damaged, the shop will fix it for me.
the connectors make a huge difference. I always use Neutrik and nothing else. Belden & Canare cables have proven to be very good value for money as well.
I really enjoy the time stamp feature that’s being integrated here. RUclips made a good call on that one, and your channel is the perfect example of a solid way of using it correctly
Thank you so much Adam. As soon as I saw this feature I about fell out of my chair! Haha. I’ve been waiting for ages for something like this and to be honest, I never thought they’d do it.
@@Podcastage I have to agree, this new feature rocks!
RUclips learning from Pornhub is great!
@@MrNinfofan It's been happening for a while now.
Its super useful for large music playlists too.
Length is also worth mentioning. A long cable picks up more interference than a short cable. For a tiny little jump for a mic on an amp sitting next to your setup, a cheapo might be okay. But for a 100 foot snake run between rooms, or to FOH, you need the shielding. The noise floor difference also could be much greater over longer runs.
I love the fact that you start with the short answer and then go into detail. More people need to follow your lead on this. I also love that you did not completely trash the low-end cable or completely hype the high-end cable. Very, very well done. Thank you.
Hi. Im stage technician and for me (and most of pa professionals) the build quality is most important. The connection has to be rock solid, the connectors tough and reliable, cables soft and easy to coil. Most pa companies use sommercable (my favourite), or klotz cables both for microphones and dmx. As for the connectors Neutrik is king of the hill while amphenol xlr jacks are acceptable. we rarely use anything else. and we dont buy cables. we buy cable and connectors and make our own. and we do a lot of them. like... one week straight, eight hours a day just before season (you never have enough cables)
My guitar cables use Amphenol 1/4” connectors and I have enjoyed them quite a lot. This is very interesting to hear your experience with cabling in the live environment. Thank you so much for sharing.
Nothing beats DIY. They are a lot of fun to make.
"one week straight, eight hours a day" making cables? I used to make cables when I worked in a hi-fi/av store and once a week did my head in. Maybe XLRs are easier than cinch/phono/bnc connectors.
Yep this is the way to do it.
Back in the day Neutrik was brand new and hadn't reached the US, and Whirlwind was the go-to connector, and Belden cable the best domestic choice. Today I use Mogami Neglex quadfilar cable wherever I can, and the best grade of Neutrik connectors. While cable wears out, connectors can live a long time with the proper care. I'd still choose a genuine Whirlwind connector over a knock-off Neutrik fake. It's also nice to have the classic ITT-style connectors to use with a restored vintage mixer. Neglex quad is fine for short runs, say to a digital stage box, but does have more capacitance than twin lead cable. OTOH the 4 conductors resist crushing and pinching better than a pair and another pair of filler IME. And the EMC is outstanding. It's just so expensive though.
We use Mogami and have never had an issue with it. Regarding the price "Buy once, cry once."
You’re right about that. But now, no more tears.
it depends for what use. Mogami is absolute crap for reproducing a sound from a file, record. But it's good for producing music via guitars.
for reproducing the sound, sound system, you unlock your equipment using $1000 us cables, each ones. you can buy $30000 us ones if you want too, they are even better.
generally these types of videos claiming it doesn't matter and people thumbing up those vids, don't listen to fools. of course it does matter. the top 3 brands for reproduction are Nordost, Purist and Transparent. I use Nordost. The look of them. sometimes, some audioquest.
Yup! Love the star quad for RF rejection!
This is probably one of the best audio demonstration videos I have seen on RUclips. Great job, and thanks for the work that went into it!
Thank you so much for your videos. I only been getting into the whole microphone scene the last two years and learned alot from your videos. Also love how you do the same techniques and skits in each video. Made the jump from a Blue Yetti to a Shure SM7B. It was a night and day difference. Then I changed my M-Audio M Track mixer to a Rodecaster Pro with with a fethead added and that again was a huge difference in voice tone and sound with virtually no post production needed to get rid of any hissing or background noise that I experienced with the M-Audio Mixer. Cant believe I made so many videos with crappy mic quality compared to what I have now 😂. But thank you for your videos! It is extremely helpful.
Really ahppy to know the videos helped man. That's quite a nice setup you got there now. You're set for years to come!
Hey I have the same microphone and I will buy Rodecaster Pro can you tell me which XLR did you buy? Thanks in advance :)
what else do you use with your sm7b, mogami xlr, fethead, and rodecaster?
It's funny my buddy had an audient id14 a sm7b and a cloudlifter and I have 5ge little sibling of each(mv7x, evo4, fethead) and it sounds just as good if not better because I have filtered it very well. Kind of funny how that worked out. He spent like 1300+, and I spent less than a quarter of that. Lol. Oh well. I do wish I had the sm7b tho.
Brilliant idea for the EMI test! I never would have though to try that.
Outside of physical failure, which was obvious by the $ amount, it seems that’s the only significant difference.
In a studio, that will keep you focused on your work rather than wondering what that annoying sound is. Live, you’ll be too busy to troubleshoot where the annoying sounds are coming from and the audience will assume its part of the act - unintended results.
On the flip side, I used to open FB on my phone and hold it up to my guitar with piezo and tweak my fx. A very distinct digital static.
Doing live sound gigs you learn about EMI and earth (ground) loops quickly. Especially when the lighting guys put their three phase supply near to your quiet multicore (snake). Letting an expensive rig down with poor quality cables is crazy.
Straight to the point within the 1st minute, that made me watch the whole video and sub to your channel. Thx.
Your quality of content is incredible man. I'm so thankful that you don't give your opinions for ten minutes straight but actually show exactly what we as buyers would encounter. SUPER helpful dude! Great content!
Damn I LOVE how you answered the question and left it up to us to keep watching. I’m watching the whole video now.
Great video as always! I upgraded to mogami cables when I got a NTG-3 and haven’t looked back! Very sturdy!
hol up i though you did nuclear accident stuff, never knew you did stuff with microphones
Excellent, Thanks
Super thank you for this, I have intermittent issues with interference as things get moved around in my room. I've been eyeing up getting an expensive XLR cable for a while but wasn't sure just how much difference it would make. Now I know its definitely worth it. Thank you so much.
Can’t say how much I appreciate you just getting to the point at the beginning. I happily stayed to the end but only because you were up front and let me know why the rest of the video had value. Great analysis thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I enjoy watching these types of videos(cables, mics, headphones, mixers, daws...). I find your videos very helpful. Although I'm a music teacher, I feel like I'm learning a lot from you, and people like you. Keep up the good work 👍
This channel has the best audio related videos on the tubes, by far. Clear, concise, example driven. Kick ass!
.......And the Julian Krause channel is the same level of quality.
Sound Speeds approves this video.
I'll add that if you're a musician doing concerts, you'll want a better cable like a quad or star quad cable - not the Hosa but more like the Mogami. The build quality and EMI/RFI resistance will come in handy.
When I make my own cables I only use Neutrik EMC or NC3-FXX connectors because they are better at getting in and out of gear than the NC3-FX. Bandrew shows the"better build quality" of the connectors and guess what? Yes, this goes in line with what I just said. On the male end of my cables I always use a Neutrik NC3-MX connectors as opposed to the MXX connector. I've found the MXX connectors don't always grasp correctly and if they jiggle a bit, you can hear scratchy noises coming down your audio line.
Allen. Thanks for the additional insight you provided on this topic. You and Dope in the voice chat pushing back helped a lot. Thanks for being such an amazing dude and sharing your expertise. You’re a legend.
This was incredibly helpful. I am learning so much from your channel!
Love that you just give the quick answer at the beginning for everyone that doesn't want the details. Creds for doing that
Just want to say I've been loving both of your channels. I love how fast you get to the point of each video, while still having depth of information the longer you watch the video.
2 of his channels* He has more :O
Yooooo
Hi there Justin! Did not expect to find you in the comments XD.
I've been dreaming of this video for years. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much for putting the short answer at the front, that helps a lot and now I can contextualize the rest of the video.
I absolutely love that you gave away the answer at the beginning of the video. Thank you for that!
Thank you so much for doing all the leg work as always. Such a relevant and helpful FAQ Video for me right now.
whoa did my Sennheiser HD280 pro's deceive me??? An actual answer in the first 50 seconds?? i was gonna skip ahead but because your not like every youtuber who adds filler content and has 1 minute of actual useful info.. i shall watch the entire video, leave a like, and subscribe. Please dont ever change, its quality content like this that makes me have faith in some informative youtube videos
I love what you did by answering the question directly, followed by the review. That's exactly why I kept watching.
thank you for that simplicity, honestly, straight to the point since the begining, and practical examples. with out drama and blablabla to make one think some kind of way. just info, test, clarity and a little bit of fun here and there to make it lightier. perfect for me. thank you again
Seems like it doesn't matter that much unless you're recording albums and are worried about a %1 difference. Or if you're going to sandwich your cable between your galaxy fold while it's charging in an active microwave. EDIT: I really appreciate the straightforwardness of your video and the fact that you put the simple answer at the beginning, we need more channels like yours :)
Oh how wrong you are kid. Cables can make or brake a record. Had to learn this the hard way. Clips, pops and humming noises all over my vocal takes. Reason, bad cables with bad RFI and EMI shielding.
The differences vs. price at the end of the video exactly describe the real differences between professional and consumer audio equipment. It's all about reliability and not giving you problems under difficult conditions (EMI rejection) and absolutely none of it is about the subtle tonal differences that audiophiles like to discuss endlessly. They are real and important differences for working recording engineers and broadcasters. As a friend of mine once said: you want the cable that still works after a year of having TV camera trolleys rolled over it every day.
PS it would be interesting to include a star quad cable in the interference rejection tests. Also to check them all specifically for handling noise and physical strength of connectors.
What an awesome comparison! After watching this, I immediately decided on Mogami cables and I'm glad I did, they are so well made and super quiet even in my electrically noisy environment. Thanks!
You have put in a lot of work for this video. Nothing but respect to what you are doing for others. And this comes from one youtube content creator to another. Incredible amount of work, effort & thought. Nothing but respect to you.
LM
I love the TLDR in the beginning.
I'd like to see this repeated with 1/4 inch cables.
This was a great demo and thanks for posting. You'll notice both the Mogami & Canare version cables it has extra conductors - I think they call it "star quad" it makes a big difference once you go over 25', and especially resistant to cables that are walked on stage, and coiled up and reused often. The extra expense is worth every penny when you get years of use from a cable - Neutrik connectors very well precision made version of the original amphenol canon 3 pin XLR.
I'm a year late for this comment but I'll still leave my comment in case it helps someone. When I saw this video I went to Amazon directly for Mogami cables. Then in the Amazon reviews I saw that someone commented on the Canare cables, which had the same quality as Mogami for less price. So I bought them, and to my surprise they came with Neutrik connectors and were definitely a massive upgrade from the cables I had before LyxPro.
Great, I was gonna ask this
@@ErnestoAcostayou upgraded from the lyxpro? Or the new cables you got were the lyxpro
Man's giving out these types of high quality informational videos for free , kudos bro thank you very much
I want to let you know this is the video that finally got me to subscribe, I found it super helpful and love the fact you cut straight to the chase at the beginning and said “thanks for stopping by if that all you needed” I love how helpful that was because so many people just milk out as much as they can i video but you just say what people need! I love your videos they have help me a ton! Thank you for doing everything do you!
NOTE 0: Made a follow up video addressing some concerns in the comments: ruclips.net/video/o6NEtPr-1Ak/видео.html
NOTE 1: The frequency response measurements only cover 20Hz - 20kHz which is all most podcast producers and at home studio producers will encounter. The results may differ if you record high resolution with the intention of slowing down the audio. For most people 20Hz - 20kHz is more than sufficient.
NOTE 2: For non-reviews I typically record unprocessed audio and process in post. Here I mistakenly recorded the processed audio for my spoken word portions, and that processing was not good, so this is not a good representation of the sound of this mic. Sorry about that.
NOTE 3: Thanks to Allen from Sound Speeds (RUclips.com/SoundSpeeds) for providing additional insight on this topic.
oke
Pls Also Test Monoprice 104752 Premier Series XLR Male to XLR Female - 10Ft - Black - Gold Plated | 16AWG Copper Wire Conductors [Microphone & Interconnect]
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This Black MIc Sounds Great, Model and Brand Please?
Podcastage yes, “only” 20 to 20. That should cover it. 😂
cool
As a Mogami Gold user, I love this xlr cables. Their reliability and quality control so far has been amazing! Love your video , no bull straight to the point .
This was a PERFECT cable review covering ALL the bases. Thank you.
Very well informative overview, thanks ... two weeks ago I bought my XLR Cable (Amazon Basics) and I'm pretty happy with it! :)
I have a question about the EMF test you did here. First though I want to say I LOVE your videos - what a breath of fresh air - In the course of less than 48 hours I’ve found clarity on both a mic and interface. The consistency of the stages of each video make it easy to jump in and out quickly to find the information and HEAR the mics and interfaces in the given situations that help us all make well informed decisions. You have obviously put a LOT of thought into the format and structure as well as the content and how the user will experience them - You’re a consuate showman, great musician and your DeadPan humour is the absolute best! . Now for the EMF test here, in the video it looked very much like one of the mic cords was doubled back and laying against the transformers, so that part of one of the 4 cables was much closer and in more constant contact with the emf field of the transformers (even though another part of the cable was in your hands and subjected to the same EMF field as the others. You can see writing on the cable but I couldn’t quite make it out (maybe you can see in original?) I suspect it would be the Amazon Basics cable given there was a long strong bit of feedback on that cable that didn’t show up at all on the others. I’d be curious to see if you can tell from the video if my suspicion is correct or if it’s some other non-mic cable that somehow was also being dragged around while you moved the mic cables. Amazing to me that the Mogami rejected all the interference to non audible levels - makes me want one, even though it would cost half what my mic is worth ! LOL I have champaign tastes and beer budget ;) Thanks again - you are obviously very smart, talented and a very hard and dedicated worker who maintains a sense of humour through it all. Obviously so many of us benefit, enjoy and appreciate the fruits of all that hard work and planning.
I have accumlated some amount of cables over the years. Recently, I made the effort to swap all connectors to Neutrik ones as all others I had were constantly breaking, having bad conenctions of some sorts or both. It was so worth it. My personal rule of thumb is: if the cable has Neutrik connectors on it, it's probably fine. Also don't buy from amazon.
I'm setting up a multi-use space in my home and your videos have been incredibly helpful. Thank you so much!
Your videos are always so solid dude. Thanks for all the effort you put in, always high quality content here.
Thanks for this-one of the most helpful and pragmatic reviews on this topic here on RUclips. I'd love to see a comparison between the Mogami W2534 and Canare L-4E6S Star Quad as I've heard they perform very similarly and the Canare is considerably cheaper. Thanks again!
This was a great test. I'd love to see a follow up with some other XLR manufacturers. For example. Canare, ProCo, Whirlwind etc...
I knew there would be differences in shielding quality, but I didn't know the difference would be that drastic. Very informative! Kudos!
Appreciate your candid reviews of so much different crap! I decided on an amazon cheapie cable for my non-moving studio mic cable. As long as the connectors don't get stuck, think it might be worth it for now. Thanks 👍😊
Honestly, make your own cables.
Every studio engineer or live sound engineer I've worked with have always said to make your own. You can spend ~10 minutes to watch a video on how to make your own and get bulk cabling and connectors for pretty cheap. IMO It's not hard and you can make a good cable for fairly cheap. Also the cables I use in the studio or live gigs are ones that I have made, and I haven't had a problem since I've made them ~5 years ago.
It's like that side of music is dying out these days - no one makes their own cables anymore, no one plays their own instruments or writes their own songs like the old days yet they have the cheek to self proclaim themselves as 'musicians' and 'producers' etc! Making your own cables and set ups was a whole other side to music that is rarely appreciated anymore.
(I say "no one" but I don't mean everyone, of course!)
Long live real musicians, engineers and producers!!
I don't doubt what you say, BUT, engineers and even you make the statements without providing us any sources. Where are you buying your connectors and cable. It is too confusing to use Amazon or Reverb for the newbie. Please provide sources. Secondly, matched vs instrument vs. speaker, etc.
I usually buy my bulk from www.redco.com/ and same with my connectors. Mogami bulk cables and neutrik conns.
@@MegsMakeupRoom says the wannabe about the posers... Real ones still make their own
@@FrankTheTankA1 thanks a million for this 'connection' take care. regards, Don
I would definitely go for the $50 cable for not wanting a bad experience right from the start. I am new to this stuff and researching it has been a little frustrating but I am learning
Or make it yourself. I have only few pre-made cables, I've made everything else myself. Because it's dead simple and CHEAP. Neutrik XX-series connectors are like 3-4€/piece and the cable itself is like 1-2€/meter... for 50€ you'd be able to make 20 meter cable at least ;)
@@Mtaalas Yep. I used Sommer and Klotz balanced and inst. cable with Switchcraft and Neutrik connectors for a load of them 20 years ago and I'm still using them.
I don't often thumbs up a video, but your opening was absolutely perfect. Clean, clear answered the question without keeping the viewer waiting. Wells done!
PS. Yes I watched the whole video :)
Dude, you're a boss. You have a good sense of humor, and you know exactly what people want to see and hear about. Love it, dude!
I've been making my own mic cables (mainly for studio use) from bulk spools for 25 years and have settled on using mainly Canare L-4E6S and sometimes Mogami W2534. These are both _star quad_ designs, so called for their use of four conductors twisted around a common center. Their noise rejection characteristics far exceed standard single-pair cables.
The Canare in particular has excellent mechanical properties. It's durable enough to take on the road, it feels great in the hand, it has low "memory" (i.e. it doesn't remember twists), it coils wonderfully, lays down flat and-aside from its braided shield being a bit difficult to prep for soldering-is otherwise a pleasure to work with. It also comes in several colors which is great when you have dozens of cables to manage during busy recording sessions.
I have never observed a qualitative difference in fidelity between two working cables of the same length presuming no confounding external influences like induced noise.
Canare and Mogami were available in my area when I was starting out so that's what I use, but there are many manufacturers of high-quality cable, all of whom have star-quad designs. These include Sommer, Klotz, Belden, Gotham and others. I've used all of these over the years and they're all great; use what you can find locally!
Also, check out Dave Rat's videos on using Shielded network cable for audio. It's a real eye-opener.
Your EMI/RFI tests were pure gold. I plan to upgrade my cables now, because I think this will alleviate the digital hum that I have to remove in post production.
DId you end up buying a new one and if so, how is your new cable?
@@crownless236 I upgraded my cables, but I didn't stop there. Right now I'm using a Canare XLR cable with a CODA Stealth mic booster on an XLR dynamic mic. This gives me an additional 28 dB clean gain. I also got a different audio-input device. I was using a Røde AI-1, which I liked a lot, but I had to use Audacity on each file afterwards to remove some background hum, no matter how low I set the gain. So I bought an Audient iD4, and I couldn't believe the difference. The hum was gone. And finally, I replaced my surge protector with a Furman outlet/surge protector, which is also pretty clean. All of these things combined (the Audient input device is probably the most-significant part) now record clean audio with sufficient gain on the first try.
Thank you so much for this! it's basically the answers we need; right to the point, well done!
Putting the quick answer in the first 15 seconds was one of the most wholesome things I've seen on RUclips lately; thank you for making it easy to get the information we need.
I had a mid-priced XLR cable which worked perfectly fine for 3 years. Then one day out of the blue it got a huge amount of RF Interference. I immediately upgraded to a Mogami Gold and will only use those in the future.
My XLR cable makes a popping sound and blows out the audio if its moved near the mic. We aren't super careful with the cables. If I were to buy a more expensive cable would that fix this issue? also is that very typical of a damaged cable?
yes and yes. check out redco to get a custom made cable or just go all out and get an analysis plus (nasa uses them exclusively)
Hey gents. Sorry I didn't reply, I missed this.
A higher quality XLR cable could help with those issues. The popping or crackling sounds when you move the cable sounds like the handling noise is being tansferred from the cable into the actual recording. Higher qualitiy cables do tend to be less "microphonic", meaning they transfer less of that noise.
As far as the blown out audio, I'm not sure what exactly would cause that, but I'm assuming that's a short in the cable. Shorts can occur in any and all cables, however, with the better workmanship and higher quality components in the more expensive cables you ought to be less likely to encounter that.
Hope that helps. Keep up the great work.
@@acidbath3226 Those analysis plus are stupid expensive
@@Sapientiaa i heard they are used by john mayer as well
I don't think this was mentioned here (maybe some of the jargon went over my head) so I'll add this: Whenever you have an audio cable that has noise or cut-outs when it's being moved, that tends to mean some of the conductive wiring inside has broken at some point (if you're not bending the wiring itself, this is almost always on one of the cable ends just before the thicker adapter part), and moving it around changes the position of these broken parts, leading to inconsistent audio streams.
Excellent you made a summary at the beginning of the video. I stayed until the end of course!
Love your channel . I come here often to view . Just starting out with all this ... stream/using DAW , etc. and learning a lot from your channel. Thanks much !
Thank you for actually taking the time to do a proper experiment.
The folks at Abyss Audio try to fool people into buying 2000$ cables (you read that right) when a relatively ultra-cheap cable (the 50$ one) would work just as well for way less.
The joke at the intro was so bad i laughed 3 minutes straight
Love how you answered the question at the beginning, thanks
I'm honestly really thankful to your videos coz you helped me make a big decision with my audio needs for my stream and videos. I've been using those cheap BM-800 condenser microphones without any phantom power or audio interface for years and finally had the money for a little upgrade. I watched your videos reviewing microphones and budget audio interfaces. Now I bought a Maono microphone and a M-Track Solo which is still pretty cheap but it's definitely a huge upgrade to my previous sound quality. I really like how you give details and make sure that you don't say negatives just for the sake of saying negative things to cheaper products. Thanks a lot for making these videos!
What I can tell after +50 years of always making my own cables (for instruments, studio & PA) and those of colleagues is, that it's always the better way to have quality cables and, more important, plugs.
I only use Neutrik plugs wherever I can (in some situations they're too bulky, then I use slimmer Amphenol, but not on stage). They're expensive but if I take in account, that they work flawless for 20-30 years, that's a no brainer.
With cables it's a lot about the quality of the shield, with cheap cable it's often flimsy and can move a lot inside the cable, so it breaks or gets shielding holes that result in crackling when moving it or stepping on it on stage.
If You get quality cable by e.g. Mogami, Sommer, Cordial, Klotz, Whirlwind etc., You're good. They all cost around 1-3 Euro/$ per meter in comparison to .30-1 for cheap ones.
All the 'HiFi' or instrument VooVoo cables at 10-500 €/$ / meter or more are bullshit.
If You can't solder them Yourself find someone who can and You get reliable premium quality cables at a fraction of the price.
neutrix are super
I've never bought into the cable myths, and it's nice to see some practical examples proving the point. Of course there are differences, but you have to have considerable length to really talk about any meaningful signal loss, and often it's only a slight dip in high end that can easily be compensated for with EQ. I just care about having something with decent shielding that can handle touring. I like to make my own for studio use with affordable cable, perfect length and Neutrik connectors. And it's pretty damn cheap long term. They'll most likely last decades the way I use them.
I really respect that you get to the point!! That alone convinced me to subscribe.
Great comparison video! Love how you go about real world tests. This was just out of interest for me as I always make my own cables with Neutrik connectors and good quality cable.
I bought the Mogami cable for video blogging, but only for the "looks" of having a high end cable. I thought all the benefits were overhyped, but I guess there IS some truth to the marketing. thanks for the review.
Wow didnt expect the outcome. About to buy new RCAs and XLRs cables for my HiFi systerm... Mogami it is. Cheers!
I was shocked by the outcome as well. I checked 3 minutes of audio multiple times, and reran the EMI test 2 more times because I couldn’t believe the difference. I was speaking with Allen from Sound Speeds and he checked and Mogami Gold uses quad wiring which helps a lot with reducing that interference noise.
@@Podcastage I'm using the Mogami quad wired as twisted pairs especially on longer cables (like the main AB on an acoustic stage recording).
Wow u probably get this a lot but you literally broke down everything so well and so clear that as a beginner to this audio stuff
It has really really helped so a massive thank you to you my guy!!
I watched this video simply because it was interesting to me but you have no idea (or maybe you do) how amazingly amazing it is that you have the answer within the first minute. Fully gained my sub. Great content!
What's interesting is if you do this test on instruments with instrument cables the tonal difference can be quite massive. Even using the other end of the cable amounts to a noticeable difference.
No, cables don't affect tone as long as they're properly assembled and shielded. The audiophile world is full of scammers and snakeoil salesmen who would love to sell you their magical unobtanium interconnect cables for thousands of dollars because they improve the sound quality so much, but it's all pretty much nonsense.
Holy smokes! Had no idea why exactly I was paying what I pay for Mogami. That interference is insane!
This was such a great comparison and well put-together video. Immediate subscribe. Thanks!
Awesome video! Thanks for the visual comparison!
Really great video, Bandrew. It's always good to see people who share their results to help cut through the noise... pun intended.
The cables of ours you used were our mid-tier Pro Series which use REAN connectors (also made by Neutrik). Our Edge series, for those who want something higher end, is comparable in spec to the Mogami's you used, including genuine Neutrik connectors.
hosatech.com/products/analog-audio/microphone-cables/hosa-edge-mic/cmk-000au/
Great job again on the video. Honesty and education is always the way!
Great video! Pretty much confirms my experience over the decades with live sound.
My answer to this is to buy bulk cable and connectors of the highest quality and fabricate all my cable assemblies myself. I have FCC credentials and have done a lot of equipment fabrication for decades, so this works for me. I have yet to have an assembly failure over several decades of continuous use, but reliably fabricating your own isn't for everyone.
The biggest differences I've noticed is durability of the cable and its connectors, the interference rejection, and the reliability of electrical connection through the connector. All the hype of copper purity and really exotic materials isn't going to affect much. Cable jacket and dielectric (insulation) chemical contamination of the copper in the cable over time is probably the biggest concern, but unless the cable is subjected to lots of outdoor sunlight and weather continuously, that isn't going to be big enough unless it's really the lowest quality cables.
Serve wrap versus braid affects phase skewing and interference rejection -- shield coverage affects interference rejection. Braided shield is generally superior to serve wrap unless you have a musician who likes to continuously stomp hard on cabling -- braid has quieter handling noise -- continuous hard stomping will damage braid more easily than serve although it will degrade and destroy either over time.
Connectors are a really big deal to reliability -- mechanical and electrical. Mechanically, it's about the reliability and security of the latch mechanism, especially the button and spring, the durability of the shell, the durability of the pins/sockets and the insulating material they're in, the wire attachment to the pins/sockets, and last but by no means the least, the strain relief design and implementation. I've seen more bargain basement cable failures from poor quality connectors failing by coming apart or failing to latch and poor strain relief failing when a cable inevitably gets pulled or tugged and it gets pulled partially or completely out of the connector far too easily.
Lastly, the electrical connection material and metals used actually matter. Silver is the best. Properly made and mated silver pins and sockets will not completely wear through the silver but will evenly transfer materials when mating/unmating. Furthermore, silver has the highest conductivity of all the metals used, better than copper and gold. The conductivity includes silver oxide which is the dark tarnish silver can acquire -- it conducts almost as well as unoxidized silver. Paying for gold or platinum may sound good, but for XLR, silver is the best. That'll said, the XLR shells are not electrical conductors, so their metallic content is for durability, strain relief, and chassis shielding around the connector internals.
A great deal of metalurgical thought and engineering goes into high quality connectors. The only exception to silver is using gold for 1/4 inch TS and TRS connectors but that has to do with how they mate and the nature of internal contact design between male and female when mated.
Given good quality materials, all the really expensive exotic materials hype is just that, hype with no truly useful benefit.
Personally, I use Canare and Mogami cable for mic and instrument, always braided above 90% coverage shield, and upper tier Neutrik connectors, silver for XLR, and gold for 1/4 inch. Whether the shell is nickel or black makes no difference except as to appearance -- normally I prefer black for most stage use to not attract visual attention to the connector. I find Canare and Mogami quad cable for mic cable has superior interference rejection and so I use it. You may find that level of interference rejection may not justify the cost or the additional labor involved in terminating quad cables to connectors.
What an amazing content creator and resource for information. Thanks so much, dude.
Thanks for kicking it off with the answer. Much appreciated.
Just pointing out the 150-ohm dead mic is likely wired as unbalanced so the EMI noise is a worst-case situation.
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Had a few other folks point this out as well so I ran the test again with a mic connected. ruclips.net/video/o6NEtPr-1Ak/видео.html
@@Podcastage That shouldn't actually matter in this case as it wasn't the audio source being measured, but rather how much noise the cable picks up that the preamp can't cancel out. An ideal cable would pick up noise exactly equally on both the hot and cold leads which the preamp would then cancel out after inverting one of the two. Of course ideal cables don't exist in the real world, so there's some margin created by better or worse quality shielding here.
If you want to test how much noise the cable picks up without the effect of balanced noise cancellation, disconnect either the hot or cold lead from the cable connector and then redo the test. It should be pretty different.
@@Podcastage Since this is a test of cable shielding, would you mind testing with ferrite chokes? I heard from an x-HAM radio broadcaster that it's the cheapest way to remove EMI/RFI in unshielded cables. It may sound boring, but not the way he put it; Imagine having a massive antenna in your backyard and each unshielded cable in your house acting as either a transmit/receive antenna for the broadcast - even your mouse cable could be an antenna causing the mouse to behave erratically.
@@BlitzIn4 Electronics Engineer here... Ferrites act on frequencies of hundreds of Khz to Megahertz range. So what ever they attennuate, will be way, WAY out of the range of hearing.
If you're getting low frequency EMI issues, you have bad shielding and bad grounding, and no amount of ferrites is going to fix that.
Basically you need better cables and make sure your connections to the cable's connectors are ok.
very interesting to see. thanks for doing the test. I think you hit the nail on the head. It doesn't seem worth it unless you are already paying for the top end stuff, at least in the studio.
thanks, I was looking some video about this topic to decide what to buy, this was of great help!
Thank you for giving the answer in the beginning.
I watch the entirety of all of your vids.
Thanks Bro. I’ll be sure to buy good cables.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching and I hope the cables you ended up with are working well for you.
My mogami's are awesome and beautiful and would never leave me. They bring out the best in me.
Damn. I started with the Blue Ember review and after 5 videos later I ended up here. Podcastage is the best RUclips channel on the internet and Brandrew is just an amazing geek. Thanks for all you do, Bandrew.
Godsend. Your summarization was poetry. Thanks for the balance of concise and deep dive.
I’m offended I didn’t get a shout out as being the dumb ass who spent hours finding buzz in his cable and it was because I bought the stupid Amazon basics cable (joking). 😁 This was GREAT!!!! 👍👍👍
I missed this debacle you had. Haha. However when I ran the conclusion by Allen he asked me if I made the video because of you put out some tweets about it.
@@Podcastage LOL! Just being funny. It was a bug DUH when I discovered my problem was an Amazon cable. :) Learned long ago quality stuff is good. And...just learned again. Might adopt a new method - when looking for problems, look to see if you have some cheap crap thing in the chain. :)
One of y’all should try ferrite chokes on the cheaper cables.
It would be great to repeat the test with a clip on ferrite on each end of the cable to see the effect on RFI/EMI pickup.
Spoken like an experienced amateur radio operator. 🙂
EXCELLENT video. Very well done. I'm a beginner to the world of microphone cabling and this was VERY helpful. Thank you!
Thanks for the quick summary at the beginning. Very well done.
Balanced cable tech is really amazing stuff. If this was unbalanced audio with AUX or some other unbalanced tech these results would be far different.
Podcastage: makes a full video about how important EMI is in a cable.
Also Podcastage: coils his XLR cable for his own mic around his Microphone Stand.
¯\_ (ツ)_/¯
Thanx man. Great info, and I love the old school phone behind your right! Keep on keeping on!!
Great video. This really helped me understand the value of buying a higher quality cable. I love the Mogami cables I have but now I can really appreciate the quality.
Thank you for making this video. This really sums up a few things I was wondering.