AudioQuest Red River XLR Balanced audio interconnect cables with XLR plugs (2 meters/6.5 feet)

Name: AudioQuest Red River XLR
Brand: AudioQuest
SKU: 703RRXLR2M
Price: 339.95 USD
Availability: LimitedAvailability
Rating: 4.5 (62 reviews)

Item # 703RRXLR2M

AudioQuest's Red River interconnects are a well-made, cost-effective option in the world of high-performance cables.

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AudioQuest Red River XLR Only at Crutchfield

AudioQuest's Red River interconnects are a well-made, cost-effective option in the world of high-performance cables.

Item # 703RRXLR2M

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by Crutchfield's Steve Kindig

Your gear and your ears deserve high-quality cables

AudioQuest's Red River interconnects are a well-made, cost-effective option in the world of high-performance cables. Each cable features three solid copper conductors to virtually eliminate electrical and magnetic interference that can add brittleness to the sound.

Red River's solid Long-Grain Copper delivers a smoother and clearer sound than cables using regular OFHC (Oxygen-Free High-Conductivity) copper. OFHC is a general metal industry specification regarding “loss” without any concern for distortion. Long-Grain Copper has fewer oxides and impurities within the conducting material, resulting in sonically superior performance.

Solid connectors

Red River's XLR plugs feature new connectors and new pins. The connectors are fastened by cold welding — a solder-less process that uses high pressure and silver paste to minimize signal loss. By contrast, solder tends to impede the signal, and the heating of the copper conductor during soldering can negatively affect its performance.

Product highlights:

1 pair of audio interconnects with XLR terminals
3 solid Long-Grain Copper conductors per cable for clean, low-distortion sound
stiff Nitrogen-Injected Hard-Cell Foam insulation stabilizes the position of the conductors to maintain consistent impedance over the length of the cable
metal-layer Noise-Dissipation System prevents RF interference from reaching the equipment's ground plane
3-conductor Triple-Balanced Geometry — the separate ground conductor ensures that positive and negative signals have equally low-distortion conducting paths
cold-welded gold-plated XLR plugs
black-and-red braided jacket
warranty: lifetime
MFR # RRIVER02X
Item # 703RRXLR2M
California customers: Please click here for your Proposition 65 WARNING.

What's in the box:

Two 6.6' XLR audio cables

Researched by Crutchfield's Stacey B.

Product Research

Features

Solid Long-Grain Copper (LGC) Conductors: Solid conductors eliminate strand-interaction distortion. Red River's solid Long-Grain Copper allows a smoother and clearer sound than cables using regular OFHC (Oxygen-Free High-Conductivity) copper. OFHC is a general metal industry specification regarding "loss" without any concern for distortion. LGC has fewer oxides within the conducting material, less impurities, less grain boundaries, and definitively better performance.

Nitrogen-Injected Hard-Cell Foam Insulation: Nitrogen-Injected Hard-Cell Foam insulation is used exclusively in most of AudioQuest's video and digital audio cables. Similar to Foamed-PE, it is nitrogen-injected to create air pockets. "Hard" foam is used because the stiffness of the material allows the conductors in the cable to maintain the same relationship with each other along the full length of the cable, thus ensuring that the characteristic impedance of the cable is consistent.

Metal-Layer Noise-Dissipation System (NDS): Preventing captured RF Interference from modulating the equipment's ground reference requires AQ's Noise-Dissipation System. Noise-Dissipation System prevents a significant amount of RFI from reaching the equipment's ground plane.

Triple-Balanced Geometry: The three conductors in "Triple-Balanced" Red River cables ensure that the XLR plugs' positive and negative signals have equally low-distortion conducting paths. This 100% coverage shield is never used as an inferior conductor.

Cold-Welded Gold-Plated Plugs: This plug design allows for a connection devoid of solder, which is a common source of distortion. Because the ground shells are stamped instead of machined, the metal can be chosen for low distortion instead of machinability.

Directional: Arrows on the XLR connectors indicate the preferred signal path from the source component to the input.

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4 questions already asked

I need 5 cables can I get an odd number of these cables?

george Jan 28, 2017

1 answer

Thanks for your question. I'm sorry no, unfortunately the AudioQuest XLR cables are only sold in pairs.

kenneth Jan 28, 2017 (Staff)

It says a pair, does this mean I will get 2 patch cables? I need 6 cables.

richard Mar 10, 2016

3 answers

Yes - they come as pairs

darin Jan 25, 2021

Yes, you get two cables

joseph Mar 12, 2016

You get two patch cables. If you need 6 cables, the tou need three pairs.

todd Mar 11, 2016

If my copenents are unbalanced, ie turntable, does it make sense to have balanced xlr interconnects between preamp and amp?

john Nov 05, 2017

6 answers

Yes, anytime you can run balanced in your audio system you should how ever it will cost considerably more for the cables though. The xlr balanced cables cancel any line noise that may be picked up from power cords, tv's ext. If you have the means to get the xlr's I? would highly recommend it.

jason Nov 11, 2017

Balanced interconnects use a three-wire system as opposed to unbalanced (RCA) which is a two-wire system (signal and return/ground wire). One of the three wires in a balanced cable connects the grounds of two components together, but there is no signal current flow through this wire. Contrary to the populary belief that XLR (balanced) is better than RCA, balanced is benefical only when you have a very long run. But with short runs, there is either no difference in sound quality, or the difference is that the sound is only slightly darker (reducing possible noise), and that there are no other ways the sound could be better. It's worth listening to some to see for yourself. Having said all that, I am very happy with my purchase of Audioquest Red River XLR, they are very good mid level XLR's and moderately priced.

george Nov 06, 2017

I'm not an expert but from all that I read, I feel that it makes sense to use XLR interconnects where possible. I've been happy that I made the switch.

kurt Nov 05, 2017

My understanding is that balanced cables will better at isolating noise. So any time you have an option between balance/unbalanced you have an opurtunity to reduce possibility of noise. That's my thinking on it.

james Nov 05, 2017

Brian, analog signals are very susceptible to interference. Balancing the signal as far as possible between components helps.

todd Nov 05, 2017

The XLR connections will always provide a cleaner signal between the pre-amp and amp. Doesn't matter what input to your pre-amp you are using.

aaron Nov 05, 2017

Is this Male to Female?

alex Jan 19, 2017

3 answers

Male

bob Jan 20, 2017

Yes, the output on the source is always male and input is female.

jason Jan 20, 2017

Yes they are! Just a note unless your are stacking your equipment 1.6 ft is a very short run . I suggest the 1 meter length has more flexibility . hope I helped!

kenneth mark Jan 20, 2017

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Looking for more?

Check out the next model in this lineup.

AudioQuest Mackenzie XLR

Balanced audio interconnect cables with XLR plugs

2 meters/6.5 feet

In stock

35 reviews

$459.95 pair

Get purer sound with a cable that features higher-quality copper and better noise shielding.

The AudioQuest Mackenzie XLR offers these features:

conductors are made of high-purity, low-oxide Perfect-Surface Copper+
carbon-based 3-layer Noise-Dissipation System
cold-welded, silver-plated purple copper XLR plugs

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