XLR Preamp to Amplifier Interconnect Lengthening

Hi all -

This may seem like an obvious question, but I’m not so sure.

I have a 6 foot pair of Audioquest Water XLR interconnects from my preamp to my monoblocks. My problem is that i need a 10 foot pair for my rack to fit properly.

Do I have to buy 10 foot interconnects or can i buy a 4 foot interconnect and daisy chain them together?

Will this affect the sound or any other issues?

thanks in advance…

1 Like

Recording studios regularly daisy chain XLRs - if the connectors are very high quality then it should be fine.

…however in theory there may be a very slight degradation due to the extra connections.

In addition if the preamp is not low impedance enough output with enough drive current to drive long cables, then there may be a noticeable difference (but this would be the case with single run 10 foot cables too, so not related to the original question.

I believe daisy chaining the same make and model interconnects is fine and should be considered. If something changes again in the future you have a variety of solutions and multiple cables to address the situation. Plus, selling your existing cable will no doubt require a beating price wise. There is no need to suffer that when daisy chaining is an option.

2 Likes

You can daisy chain them. In addition to the fact of the additional connection in the path, the two additional connectors in each leg will probably add capacitance, but unless you’re running a passive preamp I probably wouldn’t overthink this too much - just do it and if it sounds OK you’re good. :slight_smile:

1 Like

I’m running a PSAudio BHK preamplifier

1 Like

I have some headphone cables that I daisy chain depending on the headphones and amp output. Initially chaining was going to be a temporary fix. But it turned out I couldn’t hear the difference.

2 Likes

Was wondering the status of the preamp situation…

Decided to go with the BHK preamp. Although vocals on the Bryston were clearer, I found the Bryston had a smaller soundstage and multiple instruments were not as separated. I preferred the huge soundstage from the BHK

2 Likes