quietest lowest noise quad cable

7

77766613

New member
mogami neglex?
canare star quad?
other?
i dont plan on buying any bulk do to the fact that i dont know how to make my own cables so i will be buying prebuilt? :o
but i do want the best of the best of the best
i mean the most accurate clearest lowest noise no hum cables out there, price is not really an issue...i have extremely low noise mics i wanna keep the chain going
AND i do not wanna hear the "all cables the same" "its all quiet"
i have used cheap crap and good crap and can definetly tell the difference
but i am just wondering if there is any opinions out there as to which the best pre-built factory cables out there are? im talking billion dollar sound...(just...factory made) lol:laughings:
 
I have a pair of Mogami Gold Studio Quad cables that are great but I also have a pair of Blue Bluberry dual cables that are just as detailed and quiet for less than half the price.
 
B.L.U.E. Kiwi quad cable is pretty hard to beat. They are all quiet, but the Kiwi will survive a full-scale nuclear attack.-Richie
 
Something you should consider before jumping to star quad cable for "reduced noise":

The downside of using star quad is that the cable has increased capacitance which, depending on the length of your run, could result in losses at high frequencies. In my past, I've restricted my use of star quad to situations where the cables have to run through areas of high electrical noise. For example, we did a show once where the producers wanted to shoot in the reception area of our building and the only cable route back to the control room was via an HVAC plant room. For that we ran star quad.

Unless induced noise is a genuine issue where you're setting up, I'd recommend sticking to conventional, good quality microphone cable rather than star quad. As for brands, my personal favourite is Van Damme but I'm not sure how common that is outside the UK.

Bob
 
77766613 said:
but i am just wondering if there is any opinions out there as to which the best pre-built factory cables out there are? im talking billion dollar sound...(just...factory made) lol:laughings:
Click to expand...

Just one tip: make sure the cables are made in such a way that the shell is grounded. As soon as you plug one cable into another for length (or worse, into a balun), you'll regret it if they aren't. You can always use a ground lift in the rare occasions when you need one.
 
dgatwood said:
Just one tip: make sure the cables are made in such a way that the shell is grounded. As soon as you plug one cable into another for length (or worse, into a balun), you'll regret it if they aren't. You can always use a ground lift in the rare occasions when you need one.
Click to expand...

It's not nearly as simple as that. There are arguments for both choices, largely depending on the gear you're plugging into.

There are as many opinions on this issue as there are different ways to do it. In an ideal world where every piece of equipment is properly designed and built for grounding and shielding, and then properly installed, tying the shield to the connector shell is the "right" way to do it. In the real world, well . . . .

AES standards recommend that shells of cable-mounted connectors should never be connected to pin 1 or the shield, because inadvertent contact of the shell with another grounded surface while in use can create unwanted current paths for fault current, potentially causing hum and other noise. On the other hand, equipment containing active circuitry should always have pin 1 connected to the conductive enclosure of the equipment as close as possible to the point where the signal enters the enclosure. The argument centers around the radio frequency shielding provided by the shell of the connector, which may be reduced if it is left floating. An alternative solution is to connect the shell to pin 1 and the shield through a small value capacitor, providing RF shielding but allowing very little audio-frequency current to flow. This capability can be built into a fixed jack or a cable terminated with XLR connectors.

I've done it both ways, with vaying results. I've never had a real serious problem, but have run into situations where some noise is traceable to having the connector shell tied to pin 1. Generally the real culprit was a lousy ground somewhere else in the system.

The approach I take now is "it depends." If I'm building a cable for a known application such as interconnects in a rack where I have control over the ground configuration, I ground the connector shells unless there is something specific about the equipment I'm using that demands otherwise (rare). For general-purpose cables I leave the shells floating.

Bob
 
Okay, I though the link Moresound posted would provide the answer, but what is a "quad" cable? I am familiar with TRS/XLR cables, which have 3 conductors- but what's a quad?
 
Okay. TRS and XLR are connector types, not cable types--but they're normally used with cable that has 1 pair plus the shield/screen (name depending on which side of the Atlantic you're on.

Most of the ability to reject electrical interference in these cables comes from being a balanced circuit--the same information is fed on the two conductors but with the phase reversed. When the signal is received, the signal on one of the conductors is inverted and, in theory, any electrical interference present cancels itself out.

However, the "twist" on the cable is over a fairly long length and, in areas with a high level of electrical noise, it's possible for one conductor to receive more interference than the other--this results in the noise cancellation not being perfect.

In "Star Quad" cable, there are 4 conductors (plus the shield/screen). The twist is tighter and, in use, you connect two conductors to each pin on your XLR. To be used properly, you combine conductors which are on opposite sides of the cable. The tighter twist and the fact that you're combining conductors on opposite sides of the cable means that the "common mode rejection" is more effective because, wherever the interference is entering, you always have one conductor on each side. Most cable manufacturers claim the resistance to electrical interference is improved by about 20%.

In practical use, unless you're running in an area where interference is a major problem, the difference in noise is usually negligible. Also, as I mentioned, the downside is that soldering two separate conductors to the same pin of the XLR adds capacitance to the cable and this can affect frequency response over long runs.

However, in situations where noise IS an issue, Star Quad can be a life saver.

Bob
 
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