Digital XLR vs. Analog XLR - Balanced Cables


What is the difference between a digital XLR/balanced cable and an analog XLR/balanced cable?

What if I used an analog XLR/Balanced cable to carry a digital signal from the digital output of one device to the digital input of another device?

Any risks/damage, etc. . .
ckoffend
The digital cable is actually AES/BU and the pinout will not be the same. I've never tried a balanced XLR as a digital link and can't tell you if it will cause any damage. I would recommend caution.
They will work just fine. Both are straight-through cables with 600ohm impedance.

Kal
Kal,

Is that correct? I know that there is more than one wiring pattern for balanced cables. It has no impact when used as a digital cable?
Digital and analog cables are constructed differently. In analog cable low inductance, low capacitance, low dielectric constant, purity of conductor and good shielding play important role while digital cable should have exact characteristic impedance (usually 110 Ohm for XLR), fast propagation and excellent shielding.

If you use analog XLR cable for digital link you'll get most likely a little fuzzy sound since jitter = noise in time domain (to be exact jitter creates sidebands not harmonically related to root frequency).

Don't save money on this. If you don't need this analog cable then sell it and get good digital cable.