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Audiopile XLR's with EWI connectors


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Got a ton of EWI cables. All have been excellent and very well worth the value going on about 6 years or so with heavy use. I buy 50-100 xlr ends each year it seems for making my own xlrs. One slight problem I've had is with the female XLR ends, there is a rubber retaining ring that can break, I've had 2 or 3 (of several hundred) that seem to have taking more abuse than the others where the rubber ring broke and the silver tab fell out. I still would recommend them over the nuetrik version, they work quite well all around.

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I was having this discussion with another sound guy who said he prefered switchcraft over neutrix. His point was (and a good one) "I have cables that are well over 20 years old with switchcraft ends and they still work perfectly - the neutrix locks sometimes don't function as well or not at all".

 

Here's my take on it. Switchcraft uses better materials (harder steel, better plastic). I've seen almost every other brand of connector get crushed out of round but never a switchcraft. Neutrix (and their many clones) have a MUCH better strain relief system (the two screws over tiny metal plates over rubber is IMO a real POS design). It's sort of a tradeoff. Switchcraft is the winner if you're willing to be retightening screws for the rest of your life, Neutrix is the winner if you don't abuse your cables and are willing to gaff the connections when needed (FWIW the "O" ring gets in the way sometimes and removing it allows it to lock better).

 

Hmmm close call.

 

Back to the OP: Bang for buck yes the EWI cables are great and I'd recommend them highly.

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I'll take Neutrik over (old style) Switchcraft (never used the new style), but the EWI are good.

 

It's a lot nicer to use a drop snake and a handful of short cables than it is to use a handful of long cables. EWI's drop snakes are good as well.

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Here's my take on it. Switchcraft uses better materials (harder steel, better plastic). I've seen almost every other brand of connector get crushed out of round but never a switchcraft. Neutrix (and their many clones) have a MUCH better strain relief system (the two screws over tiny metal plates over rubber is IMO a real POS design). It's sort of a tradeoff. Switchcraft is the winner if you're willing to be retightening screws for the rest of your life, Neutrix is the winner if you don't abuse your cables and are willing to gaff the connections when needed (FWIW the "O" ring gets in the way sometimes and removing it allows it to lock better).

 

FWIW, here's my take on Switchcraft (A3F/M type cord ends) vs. Neutrik:

 

The design of a cord end is a bit tricky... especially because of the emerging abundence of grossly out of spec "other" mating products out there (oversized and undersized pins in male connectors, over & undersized ID of connector and mic bodies, etc...). Therefore (good) connectors need to sized to cycle easily while accomodating wide variations of ID and OD connector sizes, but fit snugly to assure good contact... in-other-words, the connector needs to fit loosely, but very snugly. In the past, the Switchcraft design utilized spring loaded balls on the sides of the Female connectors, or the bent spring doo-dads on the sides to keep the female ends snug in male connectors. The Neutrik design utilizes the rubber "O" ring to keep the female ends snug in male connectors. I personally believe the Switchcraft design can be more forgiving of variations in mating connector ID, but I believe the Neutrik design is better from the standpoint of strain relief of the cable. Therefore, I believe a Switchcraft cord end might be the tool for the job if mating with a really tight fitting mating connector, especially in a static application, but the Neutrik design is better in a dynamic application, especially if the mating connector is more faithful to specs (and you don't have to remove the "O" ring to get the connector to latch).

 

I believe the spiral flute design of the contacts in the female XX series connector is a superior design to most other's straight fluted contact designs.

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