Cobalt Cable or Bettercables XLR? (1 Viewer)

[Seth V]

I will soon be upgrading to separates and want to use XLR cables. I've looked at many different brands including Ultralink, Blue Jeans Cables, Wicked Cables, and Signal Cables. All the cables mentioned seem to be of very high quality, so deciding between them all has been difficult. I've narrowed my choices down to Cobalt Cable and Bettercables. How does Cobalt compare to Bettercables? Ultralink looks to be very good, but it's a tad pricey$.
___________________________________
Below are links to compare:
http://www.cobaltcable.com/Merchant2...tegory_Code=AC
http://www.bettercables.com/silserbalxlr1.html
http://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/...udio/index.htm
http://www.wickedcables.com/orders.html
http://signalcable.com/analogxlr.html
Thanks,
SV

 

[PatrickLG]

Be carefull, Cobalt and BlueJeans balanced cables are 110 ohm, main use is AES/EBU, not analog.

Wickedcables uses the Canare Starquad analog cable (5 conductor) with the same Neutrik connectors. They use a seperate cable suited for 110 ohm applications.

 

[Chu Gai]

you might want to read over this link
http://www.rane.com/note110.html
and see what they have to say regarding balanced wiring and then see how the people you're thinking about approach the cable construction. i take it you wouldn't be looking at generic offerings from companies like markertek etc.?

 

[Seth V]

PatrickLG,

I'm a bit curious, you mentioned that I should be careful using a 110 ohm balanced analog cable. What's the reason for this? I looked at the specs for Bettercables and they are also rated at 110 ohm. So how are the cobalts any different?

SV

 

[Seth V]

Chu Gai,

Thanks for the link,it was very informative. What are your thought's on Cobalt Cable XLR's?

 

[Chu Gai]

hell Seth, I've got a pretty dim view of aftermarket cables in general. some of the issues i've got in particular with cobalt cables stem from postings on other forums from a fella who'd been given a set of their speaker cables as a gift. Being the curious sort he peeled back the covering and lo 'n behold, plain old zip. Dressed up and marked up. Not nice IMHO.
AES/EBU is an interface specification, and XLR is a connector specification. An AES/EBU cable should have a characteristic impedance of 110 ohms. Such a cable will be fine for analogue signals also.
All AES/EBU interface cables have XLR connectors on them, but not all XLR connectors are on AES/EBU cables. An audio cable fitted with XLR connectors may not be suitable for AES/EBU use however, due to an impedance mismatch.
If all you need is a short interconnect and don't mind soldering call 1-800-BELDEN-1 and ask for a sample of Belden 1800F. Maybe they'll hook you up
Otherwise http://www.markertek.com/MTStore/Sto...arch=xlr+cable has male/female broadcast cables ($20/6ft) that'd work. Other terminations available on request.