I had a Monoprice cable that didn't last more than a few weeks because the little screw fell out. That caused the connection to go out. OTOH, I have a ProCo cable that I've been using for 35 years.The Monoprice cables are well made but I don't like their screwed together connectors.
Star Quad is 4 conductors in a star (quadrupole) pattern and twisted. It is better at noise immunity that standard 2 wire balanced cable and it's a little more rubust, so it handles being stepped on a bit better. Downside is it's a little thicker and slightly higher capacitance, which might be an issue if you run 100-200' of it. For a few dollars more a cable and for a few cables, I find it gives me a little insurance (as the doubled conductors means it also works if one fails somehow).If you're making balanced analog audio connections it's not necessary to have a quad shield. Not sure if "Star Quad" is just a name or implies that it has a quad shield. I would want a quad shield on an SDI cable but, wouldn't spend a lot to have that on my XLR. You can make long analog balanced runs using ordinary Cat5 or Cat6 without much concern.
That all changes if your connection is not actually balanced. A XLR connection alone does not necessarily mean the link is balanced - this typically happens when DJs are using 1/4" TS or RCA mixer outputs to feed XLR inputs on a powered speaker.
I have found the noise immunity of star-quad mic cables is 40 dB better than that of cheap mic cables...
Any questions?
One could predict it with no fear of contardiction...and we can probably guess his name....one could easily see a DJ buying star-quad cables for their superior noise rejection - and then use it to connect a $23 VocoPro mic to a Pyle Pro mixer...
My test was quite simple. I took two cables and connected them to the inputs of an audio analyzer. Then I turned on the magnetic field and measured the differential voltage picked up by both cables. Given the proximity of the magnetic field, the voltages were relatively high (compared to line level). However, the voltage induced on the star-quad was 40 dB lower. Granted, this was not a probable DJ scenario. It was more relevant to permanent install problems.Yes. 40dB better than what ?
Often that is deeeeeeejay.....your sound is only as good as your weakest link.