XLR metal vs plastic connector shell - should pin 1 be connected to metal shell?

[MasterApex]

Recently I have acquired new amps and speakers that are more resolving so I started to experiment with different XLR cables.

One of my XLR cables is the monoprice Premiers series with metal connector shell.
I came across this article that reviewed this cable and recommended that Pin 1 jumper be cut ?
For my purpose of connecting from Marantz Av7706 pre-pro to Benchmark AHB2 or Mark Levinson Amplifier, should I remove this?
I am not hearing any humming issue as is.

Monoprice Premier Series XLR Microphone Cables | Late Reflections – the Silent Sky Studios Blog

silentsky.net

 

[DVDdoug]

It's part of the shielding so it should be grounded. But the mating connector is probably connected so once it's plugged-in it shouldn't make any difference.

Balanced line-level connections are not that sensitive to hum-pickup so it should be OK either way... You might not get hum if there was no shielding...

Microphone signals are about 1/100th of line-level so after amplification any hum is 100 times worse.

 

[artburda]

Reminds me of the field mixer Sound Devices 442

 

[Jdunk54nl]

If a quality XLR cable (monoprice are decent) is causing changes in the sound reproduction, my guess is it would be bias on your part. You made a change that you wanted to hear a difference, so you did. I fall for that stuff a lot too, everyone does.

There should be no reason why changing from one quality cable to another makes a difference, as has been tested and proven many times by many people, including this site.

Cutting pin 1 is starting to defeat some of the purposes of an XLR cable. It's goal is to send any interference picked up or excess noise to ground between the two devices, instead of sending it in the signal. So if you cut it, you have defeated the whole purpose of pin 1.

You are also not moving these cables like in the article when they are connected to a microphone, so that is a non-issue for you.

 

[sq225917]

When it's plugged in the shell is connected to pin1 of the socket. The only way it matters is if the cable is shielded and only connected at one end.

 

[clearnfc]

You do not need to connect ground to the shell of the connector. Just connect to pin 1 will do. Grounding of the connector shell will be done by the socket itself.