When to choice XLR over RCA ICs.

Can you recommend some good bulk cable?  I'd like to make a few balanced cables to try in my system.

@ketchup Mogami Neglex is the gold standard of high quality balanced cables in the studio. They employ oxygen free copper and polyethylene dielectrics (the only thing better perforamance is Teflon, but it does not prevent oxidation of the conductor inside, so polyethylene might be the best thing out there), so in that regard are on par with cables from the high end audio world- I've seen Mogami products rebranded on that account.

williewonka

... a very well designed single ended interconnect cable is every bit as good, if not better than an XLR cable due to several factors ...

If all else is equal and the cables are being used between truly balanced components, I can’t imagine a scenario where unbalanced RCA connections could be better than balanced connections.

@ketchup Mogami Neglex is the gold standard of high quality balanced cables in the studio. They employ oxygen free copper and polyethylene dielectrics (the only thing better perforamance is Teflon, but it does not prevent oxidation of the conductor inside, so polyethylene might be the best thing out there), so in that regard are on par with cables from the high end audio world- I've seen Mogami products rebranded on that account.

@atmasphere That would be something like the quad core W2534?  Or will the W2549 also work?  They say the W2549 is a "Neglex type," but it's a two conductor cable with a shield.  Not sure if it would work as well as the W2534.

@ketchup Either will work fine. I use the 2449 in my system. The quad core is a bit better if you have a noisy environment as the quad construction helps with noise rejection.

Thanks @atmasphere. I already have 2549 single ended ICs at a few location in my system, so converting them to balanced is what I’ll do.