In my nearly 30 years in pro audio, both in a professional and non-professional capacity, the only time I’ve ever seen a connector fail in regular, non-abusive use (meaning it wasn’t damage by some event like a truck running over it), it has always been a female XLR of the type in question. So perhaps you can understand why for me the “red flags” go off when I see one on a recommended product.
I feel this is a relevant concern for those audiophiles who regularly swap equipment in and out of their racks, because the failures I’ve seen occurred merely from constant unplugging and re-connecting of the female end – nothing more strenuous or abusive than that. No connector should fail from that kind benign, basic use. (When was the last time you had to discard a bad set of RCA cables because the connectors failed??)
But again, I’m happy to hear (as I’m sure all of us here are) that Grant has had success with his particular version of this XLR.
For those of you buying XLR cables for your systems with similar-looking female ends, there’s an easy way to verify their build quality. Do yourself a favor and invest $30-$40 in a common mic cable with Neutrik XLRs. Plug the female end into the male and try to wriggle it. You will see there is virtually no movement from the female.
Now plug the female end of your audio cable into the male end of the mic cable. If there is virtually no movement when you wriggle it around, all is good. But if there is a lot of movement, then you have a poorly-made connector that will eventually fail if you unplug and re-connect it enough times. As discussed in the post I linked previously, the sloppy fit of the female connector will cause its sockets to be wallowed out by the pins from the male connector, so eventually the male pins will no longer tightly fit in the sockets.
To be clear, I’m merely speaking of the connector’s physical attributes, not of anything related to its potential sound quality.
I apologize for offending Grant, but anytime I see anyone recommending cables with female XLRs having this visual appearance, I’m going to sound a warning. Just because the Venom’s connectors are of suitable quality, that doesn’t mean the next one will be.
Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt