6.3 mm – XLR audio cables

6.3 mm — XLR

— an accessory equipped on one side with a 6.35 mm Jack type connector, on the other side with an XLR connector.

XLR has a characteristic round shape and a special plug lock. It can be equipped with a different number of pins, but the most commonly used is the three-pin version, suitable for the so-called balanced connection of an analogue audio signal — when three wires (two signal plus zero) are used to transmit one sound channel instead of two, and the interference that occurs in the signal wires due to for external pickups, they are mutually extinguished. This allows fairly long cables to be used without sacrificing sound clarity, which is especially important in professional applications. The 6.35 mm Jack interface, in turn, was originally designed mainly for a traditional (unbalanced) analogue signal, but can also be used in a balanced format.

It is for the latter case that accessories of this format are mainly intended. They can have different designs and different types of connectors. The most popular option is cables and adapters with a 6.35 mm (male) plug on one side and an XLR (female) jack on the other side. They are used because an XLR cable is inherently better suited to a balanced signal than 6.35mm, so XLR is best used as the primary balanced interface whenever possible. There are also more specific options — for example, with plugs (male) on both sides, or with an XLR plug and a jack (female) 6.35 mm.