Are Expensive XLR Cables Worth It? (FAQ Series)

greetings earthlings today I'm back with  another edition of what the FAQ it's FAQ   FAQ frequently I'm answering a question today  I'll be addressing the question of do those   expensive XLR cables really make a difference  or can you buy an affordable eight dollar XLR   cable and be perfectly fine to quickly answer that  question if you're concerned about the $8 cable   affecting the tone of your recording it really  doesn't do that but if you are concerned about   electromagnetic interference or radio frequency  interference there is a huge difference between   the affordable and the more expensive but if you  want to know more and hear the actual tests that   I run on the cables feel free to keep watching  but if not thanks for stopping by hope that   helped and for this video I will be comparing  four different microphone cables at different   price points I'll discuss the build quality the  shielding if they affect the tone of the recording   and V warranty so without further rambling let's  go to the actual content first let's talk about   the build quality of these cables we have the  amazonbasics which costs around eight dollars   we have the Xhosa which costs around thirteen  dollars we have the Audio Technica which is   around $15 and the Mogami which is about fifty  bucks when looking at the quality of the actual   cabling the amazonbasics and the audio technica  feel very thin and flimsy and unreliable as if   you were to rip them a little bit too hard the  cable would actually break I'm sure that's not   the case but that is how they feel when we look  at the hosel on the other hand if that cable is   incredibly thick and durable and robust the Mogami  cabling is a tiny bit thinner than the Xhosa but   it still feels very robust and durable and I  would trust that in any gig that I have then   when we look at the connectors there is quite  a big difference in my opinion between the more   affordable options and the NOI trick connector on  the Mogami the release button on all of the more   affordable options is very sticky and it clicks  a little bit and it mine's a little bit and it   doesn't feel very well designed the Mogami cable  and the nitrate connector just has a smooth motion   and it feels incredibly reliable so just remember  that when you're looking at the quality of cables   you shouldn't just be paying attention to the  durability of the actual cabling you need to pay   attention to the connectors because that is what  you're connecting to your really expensive gear   next let's go ahead and test how well these  different cables perform at rejecting radio   frequency interference RFI and electromagnetic  interference EMI okay so here I have all four   cables lined up directly next to each other and  this is an absolute nightmare I have a wireless   charger here I have a wall wart for my preamp  and I have a wall wart for my macbook and I will   go ahead and run these over those devices which  all output EMI or electromagnetic interference to   see how it does at rejecting that kind of noise  and just in case the phone needs to be on and   charging to get that EMI out of the wireless  charger I have now done that all right so now   I have all of that nightmare fuel recorded  in my DAW and we're going to analyze what   kind of noise is picked up by each of the cables  we'll go ahead and start with the Amazon basics so you can tell that there is a lot of  electromagnetic interference being picked   up by the cable which tells us that the  shielding on the amazonbasics isn't that   great let's go ahead and jump to the hose  and see how that performed in comparison so at the beginning of that test we heard  a similar amount of EMI being picked up but   towards the end where we heard that consistent  hum and Buzz on the amazonbasics we don't hear   that on the Xhosa so the hose that does a  slightly better job at rejecting EMI than   the amazonbasics for double the price let's  go ahead and jump to the Audio Technica and it's the exact same story with the  audio-technica at the beginning it sounds   as though it's going to perform similarly  to the amazonbasics but then when we would   or should have heard that consistent hum and  Buzz it's not there so the audio technica does   a better job than the amazonbasics as well now  let's jump to the most expensive one the Mogami so there you have it that was the Mogami at the  exact same time and there is almost no EMI being   picked up the shielding on the Mogami just  does a much better job at rejecting that EMI   and RFI compared to the more affordable  options that I compared it against and   now I want to do a very quick comparison of  the noise floor for all of the cables using   the exact same 150 ohm resistor with the exact  same gain setting so let's see if there is any   difference or if the cable actually affects the  noise floor we'll start with the amazon basics okay so with the Amazon basics  we're hovering around negative   58 to negative 59 dB let's jump to the Xhosa same story there we're hovering around negative   58 to negative 59 DB no big difference  there let's jump to the Audio Technica the audio-technica also hovers  around negative 58 to negative   59 DB and lastly let's listen to the Mogami exact same story around negative 58 negative  59 dB so in my testing the more affordable   cables perform exactly the same as a more  expensive Mogami next we're gonna go ahead   and see if the cable that we use has any effect  on the tone of the recording the way I am going   to do this is I have my OC eight one eight  and the box of doom I have a looper pedal I   will go ahead and record a riff loop it over  and over and over again and switch the cable   between the microphone and the interface and  see if there is any change in the tone and   just so you're able to listen without having  a price tag attached to that sound I have it   blind at first and then after I conclude  it I will tell you what cables were what now to tell you what the cables were cable one  was the Mogami cable two was the amazonbasics   cable three was the Xhosa and cable four was  the audio technica he may also be wondering   why I didn't line up the tracks in my DAW and  invert the phase to see what information is   missing I tried to do that but I wasn't able to  get granular enough to get the last fraction of   a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a  millisecond out so the information that it   was giving us was a false positive so instead I  went ahead and measured the frequency response   of all the different cables and all of them are  within one tenth of a decibel of each other so   there is no real noticeable difference in tone  between any of them if we rely on that data and   one last thing that I want to make you aware of  is the warranty of different priced cables make   sure you check that because when we look at the  warranty of these cables they are very different   amazonbasics has a one-year warranty hoser has  a lifetime of the original purchaser warranty   which is amazing Audio Technica is two years and  Mogami is lifetime of the original purchaser so   when you're looking at the price of the cable  make sure you're also checking the support that   you get for that cable are they going to replace  it when it breaks or are they going to tell you   to buy a new one just keep that in mind when  you're researching what you're gonna buy so in   conclusion in my testing with these four cables  I found that there was no real noticeable tonal   difference when you go from an eight dollar  cable to a $50 cable so what are you getting   for that additional price you're getting better  build quality better durability better shielding   and in most cases a better warranty as well  so what can you do with this information if   you are on a budget and you need to buy some new  cables and you're in a room that isn't rich with   EMI or RFI and you don't plan on wrapping and  unwrapping your cables non-stop I think that   you can get by with an affordable cable I used  an Amazon basics cable for about four years just   to test it out every single time I was finished  recording I wrapped it up when I needed it again I   unwrapped it it lasted me for for years before it  failed the Mogami cable that I had the exact same   amount of time no issues whatsoever but with that  being said if you are getting an XLR cable for a   more expensive piece of gear I think you would be  much better off getting a higher quality cable the   reason I'm saying that is I've read some horror  stories of people buying more affordable cables   they connect it to their higher-end piece of gear  and the XLR connector gets stuck in it the cable   manufacturer does not cover that kind of issue  so they have to send their higher-end piece of   gear back to the manufacturer to get that cable  removed and repaired so if you're somebody used   maybe picking up a higher-end microphone or a new  preamp it may be time to upgrade the cabling as   well because you don't want to damage the gear  that you're buying with some cheap cabling also   if you're somebody who records in the field  quite a lot I think that a higher-end cable   would be much better suited for you mainly due to  the durability and the shielding because if you're   wrapping and unwrapping you don't want a cable to  fail on you and if you don't know the environment   you're recording in and what the EMI and RFI are  going to be like you don't want to have to worry   about the cable picking up all that extra noise  and the last thing that I want to say is make   sure to check the availability of the cabling  that you're buying for instance I believe that   Mogami and hose at cables are carried at Guitar  Center what that means is if you're on tour and   your cable goes bad you can walk into Guitar  Center and them the broken cable they give you   a replacement you get back to your show you have  no issues with an amazonbasics cable on the other   hand if the cable breaks while you're on tour you  can't go to Guitar Center and hand it to them and   say give me a new one you would have to go buy a  new one or order one on Amazon have it shipped to   you so depending on the urgency of your recordings  or your live shows it may be very beneficial to   get a cable that you can drive down the road  and get a replacement for all right I think   that's going to wrap up for today I hope that  sufficiently answered the question of is a $50   XLR cable really worth it or not let me know what  you think in the comments down below do you think   that you will be buying a $50 cable or are you  sticking with an Amazon basics for eight bucks if   you found this video fun interesting or helpful go  ahead and give me a thumbs up if you hate it give   me a big ol thumbs down if you want more video  subscribe below go down there you want to hang   out in the discord server podcasted comm slash  discord and if you want to support the channel   and become one of these amazing people over here  you can do so by clicking that join button and   joining it the $5 tier or higher it really does  help me continue to bring you these videos until   next time thank you so much for watching thank you  so much for listening I'll talk to you then bye

Channel: Podcastage

Views: 457,655

Keywords: podcastage, podcast, bandrew, scott, microphone, review, audio, sound, test, demo, xlr cables, xlr cable, microphone cable, recording studio, cheap cables, xlr cables explained, xlr cables with neutrik connectors, best xlr cables, do xlr cables make a difference, home studio build, do expensive xlr cables, do expensive xlr cables make a difference, is a $50 xlr cable worth it, are expensive mic cables better?, mogami cable vs, amazon basics xlr cable, mic cable, mic cable shootout

Id: A0TlrpVCRgw

Length: 14min 23sec (863 seconds)

Published: Tue May 26 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Final_Taco]

But my gold plated monster XLR cables make me sound like Morgan Freeman, everything else makes me sound like Gilbert Gottfried :(

[u/K-Dave]

The only expensive cable I had made noises when touching it ;) That's all I needed to know. Cheap ones ever since.

[u/BangsNaughtyBits]

Podcastage posted a different video covering a minor quibble I and others raised.

https://youtu.be/o6NEtPr-1Ak

!