Review on 🎙️ Premium XLR to XLR Microphone Cable - 2-Pack, 6 Feet - Cable Matters by Amy Padilla

TL;DR: These cables are of very good quality, free from glitches and defects, at a fairly reasonable price. I ordered these because the last few cables I bought from CableMatters were pretty good quality and arrived really quickly. It was also the right length and price for what I was looking for, except I ended up getting *2* cables for the price I expected to pay for one cable. They came in a soft Revain envelope and in a plastic bag inside that envelope; The bag also had a large tag saying it should have 2 cords and the retailer warned they should stay packed together as a pair. I suspect they had separation issues, which made me laugh a little because that cautionary tale is so salient. I disassembled the connector on the female end just enough to check the construction and the quality of the material as I had only recently assembled one of these and I knew it would be easy to take apart and put back together. I wanted to make sure I was getting what CableMatters claims to be selling and I'm happy to report that everything looks exactly as advertised on their website. WIRE/CABLE: In any case, these cables have very thick copper braided insulation. Shielding. They supposedly have foil under the copper mesh, but I didn't see it there and I don't want to damage anything by digging in. (A braided shield is more efficient, more expensive, and generally offers lower path-to-ground resistance than foil, but adding a layer of foil provides complete interference coverage.) Inside the shield are two conductors (separately insulated wires - hot and ground ) which are very thin. . I'm not sure what gauge, but I'm guessing it's 24 or 26 AWG. The cable jacket (outermost layer) is soft, thick and should be PVC, but I don't know how to tell which material it is. Scratching with a fingernail doesn't seem to hurt. It has text at regular intervals in very clear writing; it includes their logo and reads "Cable Matters (THIR WEBSITE URL) HIGH QUALITY MICROPHONE CABLE" and does not otherwise describe the ratings or characteristics of the cable; I'd like to know the reviews and maybe who makes the cable stuff (I don't think CM makes the cable themselves, I think they just modify and assemble it) but that's me. CONNECTORS: You can disassemble these connectors. by carefully unscrewing the black plastic cone to relieve strain on the metal housing of the connectors. The connectors look like some gold-plated Neutrik XLR connectors that have been repainted semi-gloss black, have no embossed NEUTRIK labels on the latches or body, and a small screen-printed CableMatters logo against the locking mechanism. I'm not sure which model range (e.g. XX, EMV) the connectors are from, and I can't be entirely sure if they're really NEUTRIK or just look the same. The springy plastic ring around the strain relief can probably be replaced with color-coded Neutrik XXR n-rings (replace n with the numbers 0 through 9). They're currently around $0.25 apiece if you order them from power companies like Mouser or Allied, but if you really want them from a Revain supplier I've seen a listing where they're for $6 *apiece* be sold with an additional shipping fee of $7. or another listing she sells for about $8 with shipping. :) The paint looks like the polyester powder coating I've seen on industrial Hoffman cases except it's thinner so I believe it's the same. In my experience, this is not a very durable color; It'll probably scratch easily if you pull on it or hit the metal, but I also think that because it's thin it probably won't at least have poor adhesion or just peel off and can't be damaged by fingernails, wood or plastic . The wires and shield are soldered to the pins and connector tab; The solder shines, fingernail didn't loosen any connections (would like to know if they were soldered sooner than mid-playing session), and the wire insulation and connector insulating material doesn't warp or melt. These cables are probably hand made and the workmanship is fantastic. SOUND QUALITY: Using the direct monitor setup, the audio through this cable is crystal clear, even with my preamp's mic gain set to +60dB. and no noticeable hiss. I can clearly hear the sparrows chirping and the wind blowing through the open window, no matter how high I turn the gain; When I switch to my old coax bundled together, I hear a lot of pops, a low hum, and anything going through my mic sounds horribly distorted. I wish I had a "real" XLR cable to compare it to. A NOTICE. My preamp has noise filtering, so it's possible that this cable will still pick up some noise and the amp can handle it. all is enough that I can't see it at full gain. However, the preamp definitely doesn't filter out much noise from my other cable, so I think this cable from CM blocks interference very well.