Four way XLR cable shootout

As mentioned in my exploring professional cables thread, I've been intrigued by lower cost XLR cables and their performance potential in my system. Specifically, I wanted to determine for myself what kind of sonic influences these "entry level" XLR cables had, and if they could offer an enjoyable musical experience despite their low cost.

I listened with the following cables, in this order: Monoprice Premier, Kopul Quad Pro, Audioquest Red River, and RapcoHorizon SilverHog. I used them to connect my PS Audio Stellar Gain Cell Preamp to my PS Audio S300 amplifier.

My testing/listening methodology was to listen to each cable in my system for 7-10 days, and then swap to the next one. After listening to all four, I then went back and rapidly swapped out each one over the course of an hour or so, listening to the same 5 test tracks. This quick swapping helped me confirm and validate the findings I had noticed, and the notes I had taken during the longer testing periods.

Overall, it was a very interesting experience, and the main take away for me was that even lower end cables can have big sonic differences between them. Additionally, it's nice to know that solid and enjoyable performance can be had with reasonably priced cables.

Let's get on to the shootout!


First up is the Monoprice Premier XLR, which retails for $11.18 for a 3ft pair.



These have a straightforward feature set, a very "no frills" cable: 16awg stranded copper conductors, 97.5% coverage (braided) shield, and gold plated connectors. The price is certainly right, coming in at the lowest dollar amount per foot!

I found that the Monoprice cables presented a incredibly cohesive wall of sound, with abundant 3d imaging effects. They also offered great soundstage width, that did not make the speakers at all sound "localized". The highs were smooth and not fatiguing, with the bass being slightly "lean" sounding.

The major strength of this cable is definitely it's imaging performance. They provide an expensive "wrap around your head" type sound, very impressive. This makes them perfect for electronic music, or any type of music with complex passages and huge dynamics.

One critique I have with them is that at times they sounded a little unnatural or fake when listening closely to the timbre/tone of an instrument like an acoustic guitar or grand piano.

Overall, the copious amounts of 3d imaging, cohesive and quick sound, and generally pleasurable listening experience really impressed me with these Monoprice XLRs!


Next, we have the Kopul Quad Pro Premier 5000 XLR, which retails for $18.99 for a 3ft pair.





These have a different approach vs the Monoprice, in that they use a quad conductor design and a twisted internal geometry. Their specs are: 24awg oxygen free copper conductors, 99% Tinned-Annealed Copper (TAC) Braid, and Neutrik XX gold connectors. They also specify a nominal impedance of 44 Ohms and a conductor DC Resistance of 0.082 Ohms/ft (Up to 3'/1 m).

While I did not find any huge shortcomings or obvious flaws, the Kopul cables did seem to present a more localized sound, at times sounding a bit "flat". That being said, they had better and fuller low end performance vs the Monoprice. Additionally, they had good realism in general with voices and instruments sounding tonally accurate for the most part.

There isn't one obvious thing that stands out about their performance, but they present an inherently listenable sound, with good musicality and rhythm. I would say the price to performance ratio is still good at under $20 for a .5m pair.

However, they simply don't present as cohesive of an image as the Monoprice, or as many 3d imaging effects - which is disappointing.


Moving right along to the Audioquest Red River, which retails for $149.95 for a .5m/3.2ft pair.



I realize we just jumped WAY up in price with the inclusion of this cable in the shootout, but it's still considered by Audioquest to be an "entry level" offering. I believe it's performance is still relevant in this context, especially since a lot of people might be interested in what a more expensive cable brings to the table. Thanks again to @joecoulson for generously providing this cable to me, otherwise it wouldn't have been a part of this shootout.

Taking a look at the specs is a little tricky as Audioquest doesn't provide conductor gauge or shield material information. I'll just link to their product page, so that you can read for yourself.

The first thing I noticed about the cables was that the there was a difference in overall tone and character. The best way to describe this would be to imagine the "boldness" adjustment in an image editing software, or perhaps on a vintage CRT television. Unrelated to traditional EQing of the sound, this is something beyond that. Lush, rich, and slightly warm characteristics were noticed when listening. There seemed to be more "flesh and blood" versus the other cables. The bass was more prominent and present versus other cables in this roundup.

This made me think, are these AQ cables "coloring" the sound, or are the other cables taking something away? Hard to say for sure, but interesting to think about.

From a realism standpoint, the Red Rivers are easily the winner of this shootout. Sounds such as acoustic guitar, flute, and female voices all sounded tonally accurate.

In terms of soundstage, I feel that they have greater depth at the expense of some width. That being said, the soundstage width is by no means "bad", but it's not quite as good as the Monoprice. Likewise, while they are able to provide 3d imaging effects, they are not as abundant and frequent as the Monoprice cables.

Going into some other unique characteristics, I notice they had extraordinarily good rhythm and musicality, with plenty of foot tapping going on. I realize this is a completely subjective observation, but it is one that I reliably and repeatedly got with the AQ cables, so therefore I feel it's worth the mention.

Also uniquely about the Red Rivers, they seemed to cause a fatiguing sensation to my ears when I first auditioned them, but this went away after subsequent listening sessions and more time in my system. This isn't the first time I've noticed this trait about Audioquest interconnects, but I'm not sure why they seem to be more affected by cable break in versus the other cables in this roundup, which did not seem to present a fatiguing sensation at any point.