Side by Side Comparison of: GLS Audio vs CBI Cables

I use these for our jam nights we host at a pub just to help the gust musicians keep it straight as to who is who at the board. But these aren't just pretty cables, they are quality cabling with solid connector ends - professional strength. If they made more colors, I would definitely buy more. A permanent piece of my gig back - the entire set.

good quality cable, fit and finish better than expected. I needed colored cables to help distinguish at a distance what mic is being grabbed, because some times performers will grab the wrong one....These are not the heavies cables but so far so good...

A while ago I took a chance on GLS cables. I'm not a fan of "cheap" cables... as a cheaply-priced cable usually indicates a cheaply-made cable. I have to say I've been impressed with GLS's quality, so I've focused my purchases on GLS cables for a while now and have yet to have a single one of them fail on me (in both house stage setups, with weekly setup/teardown as well as remote setups... like week-long conferences/events).I purchased this "rainbow" pack (two of them, actually) not only because the price was crazy-awesome... but because the cable colors allow me to easily communicate with the stage crew without having to tape and mark each cable according to channel number. I can simply tell the stage crew to "connect Backup Singer 3 to the green XLR" and we're all set. These cables run from the snake to a hidden area on the stage... and the stage crew hooks up regular GLS black XLR cables from the mics to these rainbow cables (that way the rainbow colors aren't distracting on stage if they fall within the camera shots).

I run a recording studio, and I've been into audio for many years.Yes, I have some really expensive mic cables I use for my best microphone and preamp signal chains.Do I really think there's an audible difference between my best cables and these cables?No, not really.The differences, if any, are so vanishingly minor, that, compared to the differences between mics, preamps, the room, mic placement, the recorded source and the other things that become part of the signal path, the cable is the least of your worries.That being said, you do need good cables with good connectors. And there are certainly crap cables out there.These, however, are really, truly very good. The quality of the cable, jacket and connectors is very good. They're hand soldered really well and consistently from cable to cable. The colored cables are great for keeping track of what's what - another bonus. I take care of them - they're in the studio mostly, and I maintain my equipment well - but they'd hold up fine in the field as well as any other pro cable.I have a few "high end" single cables costing as much as 6 of these. I get a great feeling from using them with my best stuff. If I had a million bucks, all my cables would be "high end". Just because I could. But I don't really think there's an audible difference.The first time I purchased these cables, I was hesitant. But these are a stupendous value. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them for any pro, constant-duty application.

I have 4 Shure microphones and use these to hook up to my mixer. After using these for many months I never had any problem with noise or interference of any kind. I like the colors because it lets me keep track of what microphone needs to be adjusted on the mixer. The length of 25ft effects nothing. There's no degradation in length and the quality of the cable is top notch. I would recommend these if you need that many or want some spares. I know theres a shorter version from GLS Audio if these are to long.Pros:* Length with no degradation* Color Coated* Quality and Durability* Great Price (for what you're getting)* Plug and PlayCons:* None (so far)

These cables have been solid; we use them in the studio every single day, and have held up so well compared to many others I've ordered for less.Yes, $70 on cables seems like a boring way to spend that money, but don't be fooled: nothing makes you looks stupider during a recording session than a blown cable. Not only do these hold up and sound great, I've found that when working with a complicated studio setup, I'm always surprised how helpful the color-coding actually ends up being. For the price, this is totally worth it.I use these with the following to really color code my studio setup:Color windscreens:GLS Audio Mic Windscreens MicrophoneColor electrical tape:B004ZZVHGWColor patch cables:B003VYBNHGDefinitely worth it! Makes a huge difference!

Quick delivery and product is as advertised. This doesn't have the ability to lock to the microphone or amplifier. I ended up purchasing another one and giving this one away. It slipped out of the microphone easily. I still gave it 5 stars because it wasn't advertised to have the locks. My fault

This is a long, very heavy duty cable for the price. Needed a cord for my microphone/Presonus setup and for the price, this was well worth it. The cable is very thick and feels sturdy. The heads also feel durable and the clip is strong. Doesn't produce any unwanted noise on the receiving end. I would highly recommend this microphone cord to anyone who needs one.`

These seem to be good quality well made cables. I'm a more casual user so don't have them in extreme situations but have found them to do what they say. They allow me to use a heavier cable that provide a bit more shielding than the narrow 3.5 mm extension cables I'd been using before. I used a Rode XLR adapter for my mic with that output and connected it to my XLR mics to route to my TACAM digital recorder.

It's a cable and it works. The quality of the cable feels solid, even after repeated plug and unplugs. The ends are not too stiff but are also not loose. The releases feel good. The cable feels like it'll be best for situations where it won't get moved too much though - I'd look for something a little thicker if it's gonna be in a place where it may get stepped on. For a cheap mic cable this does the trick.

AWESOME !! I ordered 4 of these and used them for over a year with no problems, so I ordered 10 more. Been a very good investment that I would highly recommend. They are a little lighter duty then some of the others but for the price you can't go wrong & I use them not only for mics but also to run from the board to my powered mains & monitors. Only thing I would suggest is grab a small Philips screwdriver and check the tightness of the ends set screws. Buy this with confidence & ROCK ON ! !

So I run sound for a church, needed a few spare medium-length cables, and figured these would work as temporary spaceholders if something broke on Sunday morning... and I'm very glad I did. As far as out-of-the-box impressions, they feel like $50 cables. The cable itself is supple and low-memory, and the ends feel very secure and high-quality. I was expecting something cheap and stiff, with aluminum foil-esque connectors.I've only had these for about a month, but all three are now used weekly as mic cables, and there's no noticeable difference from the older, much more expensive cabling that we already had in place. I will definitely be purchasing more of these in the future.

its great

Good cables at a very reasonable price. I've bought many of the budget cable you can find here and GLS seem to be the best in class for Inexpensive cables. I use these every weekend, sometimes on 4 to 8 change overs a night and they hold there own. I've given into temptation to save a few buck, as you all know we are not in this business to get rich, but I have been very disappointed in the quality of the other brands. I think I'll be sticking with GLS in the future.

I placed the cords into use last week and thus far I could not be happier. It may sound strange but the microphones seem to be louder with these than with the ones they replaced

Great set of cables for a fair price. I would prefer Neutrik connectors but for the price, these are quite decent connectors. Each cable cable with two velcro wraps which are always convenient. Will buy again when I need more mic cables!

So far no complaints. Probably the blue/purple colors could be more distinguished to help in less visible lighting. But the price, length, and color difference is a very very welcome addition to my cable inventory.

If you set up cables in a studio to leave permanently, then you probably ought to get gold-plated fittings to keep the connection free of any corrosion. But if you are working remotely, setting up gear then striking it, setting it up again somewhere else, and repeating on a regular basis, then you need these colored cables. The constant friction on the metal parts will keep the contacts conducting, though I haven't seen any evidence of corrosion or wear after two years.It's hard to label cables for every use, and even if you number them, the numbers on the far end don't do you much good unless you go over there and read them periodically. The most practical solution I know of is color. Run your cables in pairs of complimentary colors. Using a mnemonic, you'll always know which cable is in which channel. The mnemonic I use is from boats navigation on water: "Red, Right, Returning." That applies to electronics and audio just as well. So, Red is the Right channel of the first stereo color pair, and Green is the Left. That normally would mean that Green is Channel 1, Red is Channel 2.Next on the color wheel would be Orange, whose complimentary color, Purple, would be the Left channel, or channel 3. Thus Orange is the Right channel of that pair, which would make it channel 4. Then you've got Blue for the Left channel of the last pair, channel 5, and Yellow for channel 6, Right.The warm colors are all Right channels, and the cool colors are Left channels. Even if you're running them monophonically, pairing them that way helps you to keep them straight in your mind. Your label on the mixer (or in your DAW) would read something like Lead Vocal M149 Green; Guitar AKG414 Red; Surface-Tom U89 Purple; Under-Tom AKG414 Orange; and so forth, listing the purpose, the mic, and the color.Work never was so simple! These cables have proven helpful beyond belief for location recording, but I use them in the studio, too. I keep them coiled nicely so that there is no spaghetti mess.I lowered the rating by one star, because the hardware is not gold-plated. Yes, I knew that before I bought them, and no, I don't really care, but most gold-plated hardware does seem to fit together more easily, as well as giving you peace of mind that all connections are working without error, but honestly I have no reason to suspect these cables of operating otherwise. But why not go all the way and plate them in gold?I'm careful with cables and hardware, so I haven't had any problem with wear. Will edit post if things change. By the way, I wouldn't use these in conspicuous places on stage. Black looks better. But for all places that are less visible to the audience, these are fine.

It's a little thinner than I would like, but it works just fine. There are other brands that are little thicker and I like them more.

I'm not a sound expert, but this seemed to work fine. We bought it for a portable bluetooth speaker we have, and it worked just fine. I wouldn't recommend for any serious recording or events, but for small stuff its great!

I'm a semi-pro in the audio field, and these fit my need and budget. But I can see they're definitely not the high-end quality you might want for high-end, frequent use pro setups. For the average setup, they're fine.

For a cheap XLR cable it works great. The design puts a lot of tension on the cord, which can be problematic depending on how and where it's setup for how long. Other than that, its a XLR cable that works like a XLR cable.

The cables feel nice and sturdy they don't feel too too tight on the connections they go in and out of the ports fairly easily and feel like they have a good solid connection. I know you get what you pay for when it comes to these things but for my purpose I just use them for some studio monitors at home for 5 bucks you cant beat the quality! I have used them for a couple months and not a single issue from them. They are a little long for my purpose but hey at 5 bucks again you cant really get a better deal then that.

***UPDATE***This cord has unexpectedly failed after 3 years of very light indoor studio use. The one I compared it to was the Pyle, and it is still working. I don't know if this is because it got used more or not, but considering how light my usage was I did decide to knock a star off - primarily because the other XLR cords I got all still work and they are also inexpensive. Not trying to be too hard on the little guy, I know I can't expect much for $5, but hey when your competition is doing better than you, that means you have room to grow. It was a bit sudden, I actually thought it was my mic or soundboard so I was very pleased when I discovered it was just the XLR cord that had gone out. There was no warning, and it didn't seem to matter the amount of twisting I tried to do to get static or anything out of it. This was with a phantom powered mic tho, so maybe with a passive mic I would have gotten some static or something.***END***I got this XLR cord along with a second one that was similarly priced. I didn't know which to get, needed 2, and figured I would take the opportunity to figure out which is better.The other cord I got was the Pyle PPFMXLR15 15 Feet XLR Male to XLR Female Microphone Cable.This cord is longer, and the cord and connectors seem to be more durable and stout. I also have noticed it seems to stay latched in better than the Pyle cord.Overall this cord in every way was a better cord, but it's still a budget XLR cord. The ends don't look serviceable if they develop a short/open, and the cord isn't quite as thick or lay as flat as my expensive cords. That's to be expected though. This works exceptionally well for booming which is why I got it.

Expensive but good. Real colors are not that saturated but pretty cool to stay away from the boared black standard cable.

Wish I had gotten longer ones. Colors are a nice idea but look awful in use. I bought black ones and put color coded tape on the ends . Not as easily identifiable but works and not as distracting

Good quality for the price, but not the most heavy duty cables out there. Definitely in the "you get what you pay for" category. I use them for bands that fail to bring their own mic cables. Cheap enough to mysteriously loose a few, but good enough to use for average gigs.

I love this pack for the price you get 6 colorfull 25 ft xlr cables, For me it worsk when im using 4 or more monitors i can use a diferent color to an specific monitor, they also hold a good sound, as a mater of fact im about to order another pack because of their quality and price

Delivery of this product was quick. The cables came with velcro straps so the cords can be kept neatly at all times. Being colored, you can easily find where the cables have been run to on your PA system. This is my second order of these cables.

I purchased these a few months ago and have just recently started using them. Having the different colors really makes things easier when plugging and unplugging instruments and microphones. Out of the 6 cables 3 cables have unacceptable line noise, a lot, something I find particularly irritating because I needed to use all of the cables at once. I tested all the cables 3 are perfect, and those ones I'm very happy with. I opened the connector to 1 of the bad cables and the soldering points are hanging on by a thread. Normally I would fix the joints myself but I long ago threw out my soldering iron. I understand that when you're making the cables you're trying to do this as quickly as possible to meet orders, but looking at the soldering joints it just looks like whoever made these was completely zoned out I mean the wire is just barely holding on. Anyway these things happen and judging from the rest of the reviews this seems to be uncommon but I hope that the seller will contact me and send me replacements. We'll see.I do want to emphasize though I'm rating these 3 stars because half of my product was defunct. If 6 out of 6 of the cables were functional I'd rate these 5 stars, they are really good cables and comparable to some of my more expensive Mogami cables.

This cable was cheap and it shows. Yes, it does work; but, I fear using it outside of my home studio. This is not a cable you should bring on stage for a show. Nor is it one to have in the path of other items. The casing feels very thin and not sturdy. As I stated, it does work...it just does not seem durable.

The cable connectors are made with very cheap materials. The plug does not come out easily, I felt like I as going to break it if I pulled too hard. The connections were also not balanced, this cable had a lot of feedback when plugged into the speaker. I don't recommend using this cable for professional use.

I bought these for about $5. Originally, they were about $25 and I have seen them at our local guitar shop for the same price. They are cheap, they aren't the highest quality but I think they'll last for a while and are worth the $5 that I paid for. If you want something of super high quality don't buy this product. But if you want something cheap and decent quality these are it.

best 4 use 2 b left on equipment u keep cabled up i think. the xlr's don't seem 2 b good enuf quality, 2 withstand repeatedly plugging in & out .they work fine so far w/no noise but i handle them very gently when unplugging. they r not up 2 the quality of the kirlin cables.

The cable itself is decent at best. The connectors feel kind of weak.The biggest issue, however, is the fact that this cable does NOT work with phantom power. I have tried several condenser mics, and this could not supply phantom power to any of them. I brought this up to a professional audio recorder, and he had the same issue with this same brand before.It works very nice with dynamic mics, but don't buy this if you hope to use it for mics that require phantom power.

I like these cables because they work properly and they appear to be relatively durable. I did not like that they arrived in a bag with oil on them and the bag, and it took almost an hour to clean off the 2 cables and then my hands (and they still smelled of it slightly). I would buy these again but have a pair of gloves I didn't mind getting dirty on hand.

Product is fine. Cheap cables which work well. Ordered colored cables for the intention of better labeling what connections are what when running to the board, but received all black cables instead. Not the end of the world, but I could have purchased locally or from other sellers for less if this is what I had wanted.

Defective cable: melted insulation in the middle, exposed wires.I tried to leave a positive review explaining how this was resolved (kudos to Amazon) but it got rejected as not meeting Amazon guidelines.Go figure.So we'll just leave it at "defective" and "not returnable".

Maybe it works maybe it doesn't. It isbunder the frequently bought together for a Tyler PA system I got that. It is the wrong connector for that system and useless to me but they don't do returns. Feels solid and female end attached well to my mic then I discovered there was no input foe the male end. 2 stars since they don't allow returns.

When I purchased these cables I expected them to be higher quality heavier duty cables, especially with the made in America banner across the bottom of the page. Instead I received cheap looking cables clearly stamped made in China. I either ordered the wrong cables (because I didn't get what I thought I had purchased) or was sent the wrong ones.

This cable is made very well and very nice and long. That said, I didn't think I would have any complainants when I originally purchased this cable. I did have a problem. Whenever I touch or adjust the cable near the mic, it makes a very loud buzzing. The buzzing stays on until I adjust it back perfectly. I WOULD NOT recommend this unless you are never going to touch the mic or just be up for it. Good luck!

One of the 4 wires I bought went out the same night of use. The second wire, doesn't lock onto microphone vut still works. I haven't even open the other two wires I bought. Price is great for the poor product I received.

Here's the thing about XLR cables. If they work, they work and you never notice them. If they don't work, they create more of an issue than you can dream. I purchased 2 CBI cables and received them within the appropriate time line and they were well packed. However, as you will see in the photos below, one of the cables was absolutely a terrible cable to send out. The connectors were covered in some sort of sticky mess and the Phillips screw was completely stripped out on of the connectors. Terrible terrible experience for me. I will attempt to return this cable and receive another from the company.

Poor quality cable, poor quality connectors. What else is there? I guess the shipping was okay.

My mics got stuck using this cable..

The product is completely fine, as far as I can tell it is fully functional.Orange County Speaker however has been harassing me repeated pleas to raise the rating on an earlier review listing it as 'Good' because I had no specific opinion on it or their delivery either way.The product itself is 4 stars.Their customer service is 2 stars.Their repeated annoying emails 0 starsBecause they have been annoying me to change an apathetic middle of the road review I am not going to leave a low review.

The connector is cheap and has an intermittent connection that makes noise through the speaker when you move around. I had to replace this with an expensive one. The low price isn't worth it.

Defective cable. How did manufacturer's Quality Control pass it?

great cable! so far, no hums or hisses. Not the most heavy duty, but what do you expect for the money?!EDIT: after only one use, and a few months of sitting around, it has developed a hum. Very disappointed!

Do Not waste uour $5 here unless your goal is to buy tthe most toxic smelling cabble at the cheapest price. I was so dissappointed i put mine strait in the waste basket for the trashman rather than bother to return it. Dont make the same error.

These cables are jacketed with an awful compound that offgases heavily. In other words, they smell really bad. As soon as I took them out of the bag my friend across the room commented on the smell and we had to open the window. They worked, but I had to put them back in the plastic bag and move them into another room.After I put the cables away my hands smelled like the cables and I felt the urge to wash them immediately.I am not a squeamish person. I can recognize when a problem is minor enough to ignore. This smell can't be ignored. Don't buy these.

Used these for my home studio figuring they would get light use. They sounded Ok but the main problem with them are the connectors don't snap snugly into the receptacles so the contact isn't secure and the sound cuts out! I couldn't believe it but when I compared it to my better quality cables, lo and behold the better ones snapped in tight creating a good contact and no dropout of sound. This was the problem I had with the connection directly into the mike. Wiggle the cord and the sound drops out intermitently. They are too small almost as if they are below the industry standard. They are unusable in my opinion, so by a couple if you must since they are cheap just to see but beware...