# Cables. Quad cables from MONOPRICE experience?



## pderbidge (Apr 20, 2021)

Man, it's been a while since I've posted here. I wonder how many of the same people are sill around? Sorry I've been busy this last year going to school in the music education program, trying keep my head above water learning piano(I still suck) and Music Theory2 (which apparantly I don't suck at as bad as I do at the piano) Anyways, I want to purchase a few quad balanced cables to have around just in case I need to troubleshoot possible cable noise in my humble home studio. Normally I would purchase these pro co's https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/XLR20SWCQBlk--pro-co-20-foot-quad-xlr-xlr-cable-black as a decent budget option for quad cables but seeing that the MONOPRICE are so much cheaper I wonder if anyone has had any experience with these https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=35317 

I have had good experience with their networking cables and basic home audio cables but I've also had bad experience with noisy pro audio cables and some of the adapters from them. I've steered away from pro audio cables from Monoprice for this reason but that was years ago and it's possible that by now they might have improved and if they are good as their other cables at this point than it seems like it could be a good option. Just curious if anyone has tried them out. Thanks.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Apr 20, 2021)

If you're having noise issues, it's probably not the cable unless whatever you're using is broken. Even if you remove the shield, the amount of noise won't change by a noticeable amount.


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## pderbidge (Apr 20, 2021)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> If you're having noise issues, it's probably not the cable unless whatever you're using is broken. Even if you remove the shield, the amount of noise won't change by a noticeable amount.


I don't really have any noise issues, I just like to have extra tools around to help troubleshoot. Certainly cable noise IS a thing and so it's nice to have something around to help eliminate if that is or isn't the issue.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Apr 20, 2021)

pderbidge said:


> I don't really have any noise issues, I just like to have extra tools around to help troubleshoot. Certainly cable noise IS a thing and so it's nice to have something around to help eliminate if that is or isn't the issue.


What makes the most difference to noise is the placement of the cable. The only exception to this is for mic and guitar cables where the lower levels are more susceptible to differences in shielding. For other uses, from a purely noise perspective, you won't see any difference and the Monoprice would be fine.


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## pderbidge (Apr 21, 2021)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> What makes the most difference to noise is the placement of the cable. The only exception to this is for mic and guitar cables where the lower levels are more susceptible to differences in shielding. For other uses, from a purely noise perspective, you won't see any difference and the Monoprice would be fine.


True, however there are times when placement is limited and the quad cable can help with that. The issue I had with some older monoprice cables was that for some reason there must have either been a poor termination issue or shielding issue because it made noise like crazy just by moving it or touching it no matter where it was, including different studios. I may just have to take a chance and test it myself if no one has experience with it.


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## storyteller (Apr 21, 2021)

Mogami 2549 is arguably the audiophile’s choice for a cable standard. Obviously it scales up from there with price vs performance improvements. The quad cables sound good but not quite as great as the 2549, since they are intended for shielding problematic noise. If you don’t have a noise problem, get the 2549. If you are good with a soldering iron, it’s MUCH cheaper to do it yourself. Otherwise, eBay has cheap prices on the 2549 with gold neutrik connectors. Basically, some guy/gal is soldering it himself, marking it up a bit, but cheaper than retail to make some money.

(I know you are looking at Monoprice stuff, but if you can spring for the mogami, it is well worth it)


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## gh0stwrit3r (Apr 21, 2021)

I bought these “Mogami 2549” cables on Amazon. Will be delivered this evening. Looking forward to plug them in


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## fakemaxwell (Apr 21, 2021)

storyteller said:


> The quad cables sound good but not quite as great as the 2549, since they are intended for shielding problematic noise. If you don’t have a noise problem, get the 2549. If you are good with a soldering iron, it’s MUCH cheaper to do it yourself.


The 4 wire cable is not going to sound any different than the 2 wire cable. Agreed on the DIY part though.


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## wst3 (Apr 21, 2021)

OK gang, I hate to rain on the parade, but some of this info is not entirely accurate.

Noise can be either magnetic (60Hz) or electric (RF), and the approach to minimizing them is different.

For magnetically coupled noise all that is needed is a well twisted pair and a front end with a high Common Mode Rejection Ratio. Shielding does no good. Star Quad cables can improve on noise immunity because there are two twisted pairs, but you need a pretty noisy environment to really benefit.

On the other hand, a star quad cable will have twice the cross-sectional area, which will have less resistance per foot, and possibly a lower characteristic impedance - although that seldom matters at audio frequencies.

So why do we have shields? And what should we do with them?

Shields protect against RF interference, noise that is coupled as an electric field. The better the coverage the better the shield. Except for foil, which introduces other noise problems. The Reussen or double Reussen shield is probably about as good as it gets, but even plain old braided copper provides a lot of benefits.

The shield should always be connected at both ends. There are extreme cases where lifting one end (always the source end can help, but it can also hurt, the shield becomes a very efficient antenna!

All of which is intended to protect from the aggressor, which helps, but not nearly as much as buttressing the victim. One of the most common reasons we get noise in audio circuits is because the shield is allowed to enter the enclosure - the infamous Pin-1 problem! After insuring that inputs are properly balanced that is the source of the next biggest benefit.

Cables do matter, but it is more about construction and assembly. I've tried cables from CablesToGo and Monoprice, and they still show up poorly assembled, and sometimes poorly constructed. For the few extra dollars I'll invest in better cables. I don't use Star Quad a lot, but I have a couple from an ancient experiment. Good cable (Mogami, Canare, Belden, Gotham) and good connectors (Neutrik and Switchcraft) will win the day every time.


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