[Pez]

I've had this question a few times.  Enough that I felt I needed to give the history a bit on the product development side of things. Grab a chair and gather round.

It wasn't long ago, maybe September or October last year when I had some HUGE XLR cables that were going to be the bread and butter of what I did. They sounded incredible, they worked great, and the looks? well, you be the judge.

Unnamed XLR prototypes made last year, just looking at them makes my hands hurt!!!!

They utilized a lot of what my other cables do, my DCSG geometry, a carbon fiber spacer/shield, and a robust braided shield exterior to that. Let me tell you, they were a pain in the to make. When I was doing the work I always thought to myself 'what the hell am I doing? These are just short of impossible to make.' The main problem was that they used a lot of material. Terminating them was a nightmare, taking between 5-7 hours. All that said, between the time spent and the amount of materials used the back of the envelope calculation was telling me that they were not going to be feasible.

In walks KLE-I connectors...
During my prototyping stage, I decided to try using KLE-I RCA connectors for my RCAs, and instantly they took a wrecking ball to my entire XLR asperations. I’ve tried the gamut of RCA connectors, none could hold a candle to the performance of KLE silver and Absolute models. They were so clear, clean, detailed, and so musical that out of nowhere I suddenly had an RCA cable that readily out-performed not just my best silver XLR prototypes, but stood singularly above the sound quality of cables several multiples above their price range. (All my biased opinion of course. )

I was excited! I had engineered something that was truly special. In an instant, it outperformed something that was a BEAR to engineer, and the new designs used less than half the material. From this experience sprung both Breathe and Quiescence RCA models, my personal contribution to performance first design and both stand as my most confident designs.

I put the XLR design on the back burner and went ahead with the launch without an XLR solution. Yet, I couldn’t let it go, I knew there had to be a solution!

Stay tuned, more to come later.

[Promee]

The suspense is killing me! And I don’t even own any XLR gear!!

[Tyson]

I had the prototype XLR cables in my system for quite a while since I am one of the beta testers for new designs.  It was excellent and I was about to buy the pair Jason had loaned me. 

Then I heard the KLE based RCA cable using pure silver and it pretty much spanked the original XLR design (my system can use either XLR or RCA cables).  So back to Jason went the prototype XLR cables and my poor wallet took a beating.  But moving up to the silver Breathe was absolutely worth it.

[Pez]

Then I heard the KLE based RCA cable using pure silver and it pretty much spanked the original XLR design (my system can use either XLR or RCA cables).  So back to Jason went the prototype XLR cables and my poor wallet took a beating.  But moving up to the silver Breathe was absolutely worth it.

That in a nutshell is what happened from a product development perspective. It's not always neat and straight forward. 

So moving forward, I was starting to see that a new approach was needed for my XLR design. While the previous prototype XLR was a giant killer, if it couldn't best the new Breathe silver RCA, I wasn't willing to include it in the lineup.

Literally back to the drawing board, I went. Similar to when I originally created DCSG, I quickly realized that a new geometry for balanced XLR was going to be the key to success. Whereas DCSG is all about reducing inductive crosstalk to a minimum, this new geometry would need to take a new approach to induction.

I'm planning on doing a write-up on the new geometry very soon, but for now the short and simple is this: Instead of isolating ala DCSG, the new geometry encourages inductive interplay between phase original and phase inverted signal that is inherent in a balanced signal. what does that mean? For a balanced signal, the new geometry is inherently better when it comes to signal arrival time for both original phase and phase inverted signals which drastically improves sound quality beyond what is possible with a single-ended cable as well other options for XLR cables.

And here it is:

Interior of the new cable sporting the new geometry. Note the conductors' closer proximity. Even though they are close and parallel, they only cross at 90-degree angles and are meticulously and equally spaced throughout the cable. This photo represents several days of meticulous hand weaving.

If you notice a similarity of the new XLR to the sneak peek of the upcoming headphone cable you're right! the geometry is the exact same. The reason for this is simple. The new solution in theory and in practice works with any analog balanced signal. As the adage goes, the proof is in the pudding.

Here's the finished new prototype.

Shielded with Carbon Fiber and silver-plated Copper, the new prototype is housed in the quietest environment I could muster.

Terminated with Viborg rhodium-plated Beryllium-Copper alloy with Teflon dielectric, nuance and detail are rich and textured.

On sound quality.
What can I say, this is it. An astonishingly detailed and musical piece of equipment. It brings XLR to a new level of performance that bests any other analog cable experience I have ever had by a wide margin. I'll be releasing more specs and posting it up on the main website soon. I can't wait to get these in the hands of ACers, this new design is simply divine. Thanks for reading! 

[dflee]

Well Well Well.
It just so happens that I can run balanced from dac to pre and
from pre to amp.
Let me know if ya need a beta.
I do live in an older home and don't have ground throughout the house
if that matters.
Just sain

Don

[Pez]

Well Well Well.
It just so happens that I can run balanced from dac to pre and
from pre to amp.
Let me know if ya need a beta.
I do live in an older home and don't have ground throughout the house
if that matters.
Just sain

Don

Don,
I am glad to say, the new cable is out of beta. That said if you are interested in trying them out, I think I could be in a place after Thanksgiving to knock a few pairs out since I'll need a few review sets any way. Hit me up on PM or email and we'll chat about it. 

[kingdeezie]

Pez,

Any update on these? I run my system balanced so need XLR cables. Would be interested in  their progress. Looks like all has been silent since November.

[Pez]

definitely one of the products that is on the way. I want to make sure the final result is exceptional. I definitely teased this one out too soon and I apologize for that. 

[kingdeezie]

definitely one of the products that is on the way. I want to make sure the final result is exceptional. I definitely teased this one out too soon and I apologize for that. 

Looking forward to trying a pair when they are ready to roll. Thanks for the update. 

[hanguy]

Hi Pez,

Any update on XLR cables? It has been 6 months since the last update.


Mike

[Pez]

6 months already?

I'm telling you! the last year has been insane. I spent a ton of time this summer prepping for ehhemm... RMAF.  That said, now that the show is no more, I have been working diligently on getting caught up on my release schedule. All I can say publicly on this is our XLR debut is finalized and coming very soon! Keep watching this space. 

[dflee]

Can they be any better than my rca pair?
Have had some personal strife in life but
love my rca pair. Will get something out on them soon.

[Phil A]

Let us know if there's a tour intended at some point.  No rush (especially with the Holidays and year end coming up).  My USB cable is probably almost broken in.