Microphone cable differences

[Glenn Wardle]

Plastics restrictions have made the biggest impact on what makes cables feel 'nice' and stay in place when and where they're told to. I completely supported the move to more environmentally friendly plastics (and plasticisers), but I cherish my mic cables of old and I've not seen anything new that can match them - yet.

 

[Cqwet Dbdfte]

Cables do sound different. Compare Mogami 2549 vs 2534 vs Canare DA206 and you will hear a difference. It's low on the list of things to worry about, but is indeed there.

Cable construction will also impact noise, both external and handling noise.

However you should definitely not have 25% volume difference. That implies something is broken.

Sound power is measured on a logarithmic scale, decibels, as is many other signsls.
"25%" on a knob is significant, and the potentiometer behind it is likely a "log taper" but who knows without measuring?
My preference is using digital pots with 0.5dB steps.
You can measure your pots scaling with a signal generator, and relate angular settings to a dB number.
Even the free "REW" can do this.
Beware of comparing levels between a single ended and differential signal.

 

[Latie]

I have no personal experience with sofisticated brands or esoteric cables, but know about some good and bad ones. With dynamic mics (for example an sm57 or 58) the cable usually makes a greater difference than with a condenser, whether or not it has a transformer (Sony c48, tlm 103). The same, and more notorious, occurs between using Neve or Api style transformer preamp vs a current low or mid-range console or interface (mackie m-audio beh etc): the dynamic mic (passive I should say) got a greater difference in the sound result. greetings, forgive my english.

 

[maosante]

Well, cables are really a thing and they have a complete audiophile segment. There must be a lot of snake oil out there, but there are specs on the cables that do change the way the sound is transferred.

Conductors:
Regular Cooper.
OFC: Oxigen free cooper
Utra Pure Oxigen free cooper
OCC: Ohno continuous cast cooper, which is a technique that reduces the "cracks" between the cooper when it is made. So the transfer would be "more transparent" This is in theory what they offer.

Connectors:
Gold plated, nickel plated and Silver plated.
(Neutrik and Amphenol being the most popular ones and gold being the "standard of quality")

Solderings:
They have things also for this material. But I don't really know much about it.

Insulation:
PVC jackets, fibers, and other things.

This is the info about the cables, I'm just putting it out there, so you know whats that's cable world about. All of these aspects claim to change the sound and indeed they do change it but were are here talking about a hair of difference. No big ones.

The cables I've bought are the following, all with very little differences in noise, my opinion is based on my perception on "how they sound":

Audio envy mic cable: Expensive (not that much compared to the audiophile world 2k cables LOL) sound is good.
D'Addario Classic Mic Cable: The best for me, balanced, pure, nothing more nothing less.
Canare l-4e6s: Good sound
Audio technica Generic Cable: Sounds ok
XLR short cable (professional mic cable label tag on the cable, generic connectors probably nickel, don't even know the brand): Sounds great.

What I've found is that regardless of the connectors, soldering material or whatever, the Ultra Pure OFC are the most transparent. Tonally they just sound full and right. OCC are expensive cables, they sound just different, some how too refined (unnatural) and they are very expensive, OFC is just a regular cable, they will work as intended.

 

[terry setter]

Plastics restrictions have made the biggest impact on what makes cables feel 'nice' and stay in place when and where they're told to. I completely supported the move to more environmentally friendly plastics (and plasticisers), but I cherish my mic cables of old and I've not seen anything new that can match them - yet.

Thanks for bringing this up. A few years back, I ordered more Gotham GAC-7 and was told by the U.S. rep that it wouldn't "feel" the same as my older GAC-7 cable. Gotham was forced to remove one of the plasticizing chemicals because it had been banned for use in the United States. My new cables sound great and are very sturdy, but they are stiff by comparison to the older formula cables.

 

[MediaWorksOKC]

Thanks for bringing this up. A few years back, I ordered more Gotham GAC-7 and was told by the U.S. rep that it wouldn't "feel" the same as my older GAC-7 cable. Gotham was forced to remove one of the plasticizing chemicals because it had been banned for use in the United States. My new cables sound great and are very sturdy, but they are stiff by comparison to the older formula cables.

Any idea in what years this transpired? I remember hearing something like that awhile back but didn't notice it with other Gotham cables. I have many hundreds of feet of various Gotham part numbers (not GAC-7) purchased 5-10-20 years ago and it's all relatively soft-handling cable, not great for live work in terms of destroy-ability, fabulous otherwise. A chair killed one with just a quick glancing blow. I ran across some NOS GAC-3 from probably 40-50 years ago with a Temmer Gotham tag on it and I can't see a diffidence in feel or under magnification inside compared to recent GAC-3. The old brown Gotham cable is said to be different somehow.

As far as I've seen, Gotham changes the part number by adding a material-type suffix indicating a change, I wouldn't be surprised by unannounced changes though. Cables make a difference like anything else all else equal, I've been through many in many contexts over time and always come back to Gotham for unbeatable high quality at low price, pretty much a trade secret. Not sure how I was turned on to them, probably from broadcast interactions.

Lake Cable USA is good, their stuff sounds fine and looks like Belden designs, heavy jackets, definitely not easy/perfect-lay, apparently they make their own copper.

"People that know want to know, people that don't won't."

 

[emrr]

I think any extreme measurable differences in capacitance between elements or shielding or insulation/filler meant to damp microphonics are unlikely to show up with high output dynamics or condensers, more likely with ribbons. Then, only at some great length, longer than I ever work in studio, but sometimes work on remote jobs….but then, ribbons aren’t being hung on extremely long lines and if they are, there’s a booster pre close to the mic driving said long line.

Star Quad is it’s own thing that will save your ass on a 200 meter run across a coliseum floor crossing dozens to hundreds of electrical cables and dimmers on the way to a remote room or truck outside.

I have a few of the fancy Grimm TPR I made for ribbons, and hear no difference other than in microphonics tests while stomping or shaking a cable resistively loaded on one end and high gain pre on the other. Better than many others. The internal molding/insulation is more elaborate than most, more like some coax. Hear it over a signal? Doubt it. Cable handling is atrocious enough to make me avoid using it.

I do have some super cheap stuff that handles like limp spaghetti and tangles constantly that I also avoid using, which measures wildly high capacitance between elements compared to everything else, but in a 25 foot run makes no audible difference. I’d never roll out 100 feet of it for multiple reasons beyond sonics.

 

[terry setter]

Any idea in what years this transpired?

I'm thinking it was just about 15 years ago that I got the "new formula" wire. I bought it through Redco and got the last 100 feet they had of the "old formula" wire and 200 feet of the new formula. The two different jacket materials are not night and day different, but I can tell which is which just by bending them in my fingers.

 

[jrg.roberts]

I still have and use a load of cables I made for my studio in 1975 or so, plasticiser has not leached, they still work fine. New chinese ones are very variable, some good, some not. Except with very specific mic models highly sensitive to cable parameters - can't think of any off-hand, but I am sure there are some - IMLE mic cable makes no difference as long as it is shortish (<10 m), properly twisted, properly screened, and properly wired, and plugged into a well designed preamp. I am not talking about live stage use here, where robustness is key.

 

[HP200CD]

I have the MK67 kit attached to a U87ai. I read several people who said the sound improved significantly with a new cable (the one induced with the kit is a super long, ugly, and cheap). So I built a new 15 ft cable out of Gotham cable and nice connectors. Tested it out on acoustic guitar and vocal, and heard no difference. To confirm, I measured both with a pink noise source and they were identical.

That's the problem with rumours. One person spreads it to thousands. Inversely, it takes a thousands bearers of the truth to convince a credulous mind.

Perhaps I can shed some light on this MK67 rumor. The 7 pin cable supplied with my MK67 kit had a cold solder joint in the XLR connector, creating noise and reducing signal quality. In this case, swapping the bad cable to a good one would show a very noticeable difference. If someone discarded the bad cable rather than troubleshoot and repair it, they could (incorrectly) conclude that the cables sounded different. Of course, not everybody got a bad cable, thus the basis for the difference in perception.

 

[SubSpec]

I did derail the topic after all with mention of GAC-7 handling. I want to imagine the starkly different opinion I shared from everyone else's is related to the materials change mentioned above, as it has probably been 17 years or so since I last built a cable with GAC-7. In reality though, it's been a long time since I sold the last mic I had using it and everything I have now is other Sommer or generic factory cables. I probably remembered it better than it was. Good to know as I need to get a bundle of 7 conductor cable and was bouncing back and forth between Sommer and Gotham

 

[Tubetec]

The Gotham has a spiral lapped screen , it can sometimes become messed up and twisted inside the outer jacket if its mishandled , trodden on or jammed under doors .
I might give the Sommer a go next time round .

 

[kags]

The Gotham has a spiral lapped screen , it can sometimes become messed up and twisted inside the outer jacket if its mishandled , trodden on or jammed under doors .
I might give the Sommer a go next time round .

The Sommer tube mic cable I’ve seen is also spiral wrapped. I think a braided shield on a 7-pin would make the cable very stiff….

 

[CalavoBob]

There is an audible cable effect I've noticed over the years that you can hear when you tap on some guitar cables when plugged into an amp. Its got a name but I can't remember it at the moment. It's kind of like microphonic tubes only not as severe. There's an orange casing two conductor shielded Belden wire I've used that does it. If it makes a sound when you tap on it, wouldn't sound waves in the room also have a subtle effect on the wire too? Kind of like print through with recording tape. Its there, but you only notice it when the conditions are right.
I think the more insidious cable defect is inadequate shielding from old or poorly made wire because any hum harmonics that get into your system are not going to occur at the same frequencies as musical harmonics that are mathematically related to A 440. They will beat againt the music even when they are at a very low level.

 

[Barry Hufker]

"...it makes a sound when you tap on it..."

I understand that phenomenon to be called "microphonics." One of the things Bruno Putzeys did while working at Grimm Audio was to create an audio cable less prone to them. I've been using the cables for years and enjoy them.

 

[CalavoBob]

The tapping sound I refered to that I've heard from cables is called the triboelectric effect or contact electric effect. I think the real triboelectric effect is from friction, but tapping the cable could cause the contact electric effect. If we hid our cables in little tunnels all over the studio it wouldn't happen. Sounds extreme to me. We could just chose cable that doesn't do this.

 

[JeffKall]

I spent some time caught up in the audiophile realm where every aspect of every audio component / system was “subjectively analyzed” by the consortium of acknowledged “golden ears” …

Cable became the “last frontier” of audiophile system sound quality …

Ultimately … it became excessively subjective … as all quality comparisons are among human consumers …

But I personally came away with a fundamental love for Mogami for my individual instrument, microphone and patchbay cables (with Neutrik connectors (BAG for XLR) and Star Quad for my multi cable studio wiring … for interference and noise rejection cababilities due to its redundant twisted pairs …

I COULD argue that I “hear” a difference … harkening back to my audiophile days … but I have personally built every cable in my studio (minus patchbay cables, power cables and assorted specialty cables) … and the true difference has been attributable to their quality and reliability …

Working as an A1and A2 in broadcast sports … I am frequently apalled by the quality and condition of the cables we rely on to carry our various signals onsite …

In the end … as most DIYers discover … it is about build quality and the care and maintenance we personally provide to the tools of our trade … cables included (but often overlooked) …

 

[Tubetec]

I tried two core and screen mic cable for a short balanced run into hi-z from a reverb tank .
tapping on the cable produced quite a loud sound , orders of magnitude worse than proper hi-Z cable with its semi conductive layer , In the end I used two lenghts of single core Sommer instrument cable and got a much better result in this application .

 

[jokeramik]

I use only Gotham GAC-3 for symmetrical connection and MicPres near the mic.
Best regards!

 

[abbey road d enfer]

The tapping sound I refered to that I've heard from cables is called the triboelectric effect or contact electric effect. I think the real triboelectric effect is from friction, but tapping the cable could cause the contact electric effect.

As you say triboelectric effect comes from friction. The displacement of outer electrons does it.
In cables, the effect is simply piezo electricity. It comes from the electric field varying in the insulation, due to compression.