Review on Alvins Cables Breakout Monitor Recorder by Robert Pearson

Disappointing! The previous reviewer was right and whoever made this cable didn't understand how to assemble shielded cables for analog microphones (you can find it on google in 1 minute). You used shielded cable but did not connect the shield to anything. Instead, a separate third wire (core) is used in each cable for grounding (in addition to the normal +/- balanced signal cores). Totally confusing as that third strand even makes each cable thicker than necessary (cramming everything into a 10 pin connector isn't easy). Worse still, the shields are simply cut and exposed inside the metal tab of the 10-pin connector, where they can rub and cause extra noise (they're only cut inside the XLR too, but the crimp on it is plastic). The bottom line is that any tampering with cables or connectors will introduce noise (hum) and clicks/interference on audio inputs. Interference can also be caused by other frequency sources (e.g. I swung my mobile phone around the cable). If you leave them alone and never touch any cables or connectors while recording, they might be fine. Or reassemble correctly. I gave it 2 stars because the actual soldering and the rest of the build is pretty good. If they just plugged it in right, it would be "4.5" stars (in fact, some 5¢ marks on the right channels would be fine). I actually contacted Alvin and he seemed willing to get the cables right, but the connection dropped. I ended up buying my own parts for about $45 and wiring them up myself (no noise with proper shielding). 10 pin connectors are pretty small, 28ga wire is the absolute max (I used Mogami W2697). Returned Alvin's cable, shouldn't have left the $90 item for half the parts cost. Sorry Alvin.