Chord Sarum T Analogue XLR

"Balanced is better" is the most widely repeated piece of hi-fi folk wisdom that is only sometimes true. Balanced connection came out of professional audio, where a microphone line might run fifty metres past a lighting rig, and the common-mode rejection at the far end is worth a great deal. In a living room, over a metre and a half, between two boxes on the same mains spur, the advantage is real but narrower than the internet suggests. What decides it is whether your electronics are genuinely balanced end to end or simply fitted with three-pin sockets.

Assuming they are, the Sarum T Analogue XLR is The Chord Company's balanced interconnect, hand-built in Amesbury with the conductor layout inside adapted for the XLR configuration. That last detail is the one worth holding on to. This is not the single-ended cable with a different plug soldered on; the arrangement of conductors is changed for the job.

Why the layout has to change

A balanced link carries the signal twice, in opposite polarity, and the receiving end subtracts one from the other so that anything picked up by both — hum, radio-frequency rubbish, the ambient noise of a house full of switch-mode power supplies — cancels. That only works properly if the two signal legs see identical conditions along the whole run. Symmetry is the entire mechanism, which is why a balanced cable is built differently rather than adapted. Chord rework the internal layout accordingly, and fit ChorAlloy® plated plugs so the connection itself holds up.

Taylon insulation

Sarum T is the generation of the Sarum range built with Chord's Taylon® insulation, the material that replaced the PTFE dielectric used in the Sarum Super ARAY cables before it. Chord describe Taylon® as the most phase-stable and neutral conductor insulation available — their claim, not ours, and one worth testing with your own ears rather than accepting on a website. The underlying idea is uncontroversial enough: the insulator around a conductor is part of the circuit, it stores and returns energy, and how cleanly it does that has audible consequences in a system resolving enough to show them.

Technical Specifications

Who Is It For?

Owners of a fully balanced source and preamplifier, or a preamplifier and power amplifiers separated by more than the usual metre — the classic case being monoblocks sitting beside the loudspeakers rather than in the rack. That geometry is where balanced earns its keep most obviously, and where a cable of this quality has something to work with.

It is not for a system where the XLR sockets are a convenience fitted to a single-ended output stage. Plenty of equipment is built that way, entirely respectably, and in those cases the Sarum T Analogue RCA is the more honest purchase and less money besides. If you are unsure which camp your amplifier falls into, ask us and we will find out. The full range sits on our Chord Company collection page.

Buying from Martins Hi-Fi

How much a balanced link gains you depends on the noise environment of your own house, which is not something we can tell you from our room. If you want to find out, ask and we will arrange a listen at home under our home evaluation service. Custom lengths are made to order, so if your amplifiers live beside the loudspeakers, tell us the distance and the pair will be made properly rather than sold as a metre and hoped over.

When you get in touch, you'll be speaking with Dave, Chris and Tim at info@martinshifi.co.uk, call 01603 627010, or WhatsApp on 07554 687137. You can read more about how we work on our Why Martins page. We are at 85–91 Ber Street, Norwich, NR1 3EY.