Roland Black Series 1/4" TRS to XLR Female Balanced Cable (15')

Lisa, I do appreciate your staff answer, but _how_ are you sure, since the product packaging shows no 3rd lead? If their product packaging diagram is correct, it is physically impossible for this to be a balanced cable (just talk to anyone who took a course in circuits in college). There is an inner-most lead of copper, sheathed in polyethylene insulation, sheathed in a layer of conductive copper, sheathed in a spiral shield of oxygen-free copper. These last two are in physical contact. As electrical conductors they act as a single conduction path, not as two separate paths. Those last two layers are the standard design used in high-end cables to give shielding that is more robust against physical manipulation of the cable over time. (Superior shielding cannot match the RF noise protection provided by designs that carry a balanced signal.) Also note that 1/4" cables are not always balanced; around half of them are not. And even some cables with XLR terminations are not wired to carry a balanced signal. For example, every one of B&H's 94 listings of XLR-to-3.5mm are unbalanced.

24 AWG