First of all, Mr. Rose is not exactly correct when he says they are better. There are certain types of cable that are more immune to different types of noise, because they have different types of shielding. So for example, a Gotham cable with its own special shielding is one of the best cables you can buy. Canare star quad is widely used by recording engineers owing to the special quad shielding as well as the flexibility and durability of the cables. The cables are definitely not going to sound better, in fact, they have slightly higher resistance owing to the extra wire.

Crappy wire, even if in "quad" format, can cause you some problems, but the main problems arise when either the wire or the solder joints degrade over time.

Testing: theoretically, you could measure the noise rejection by inducing hum, if you had a baseline of the same cable. Since you just have the cable, the only way to tell is to slip off the strain relief, and unscrew the connector halfway up the xlr body. If you have a neutrik connector, it will unscrew because it is a pressure fit. Some switchcraft connectors have a small screw. If you have a crappy connector on the cable don't even bother going further, since you will have a crappy solder joint inside.

After you unscrew the cable, you will see that instead of three wires soldered to the xlr, you will have two insulated pairs plus some shielding, the two pairs look like this: http://tinyurl.com/kv4zlq4 the pairs should have similar colors, just like in the picture. Here is the same in blue http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/7/5/1/4/7/3/webimg/411454588_o.jpg

Two pairs of wire equals four wires, and that, Watson, is how we deduce if it is quad. Screw the connector back together, and away you go. There is also "open quad" but that is a story for another day.

Like I said, if you can't take a quick look inside the cable, you have junk. And why is that? Because pro grade cable must be quickly accessible and easily repaired in under five minutes in the field, with no tools. With a Neutrik quick connect kit, which you keep in your backup bag, you can pull the end off a bad cable and replace the connector in a minute without solder. Everyone should have a set of these in their kit.

There aren't really any good books on audio, but The Stereo Soundbook is decent. Basically, like many things, if the stuff in these books were useful anyone could instantly be a top audio engineer. Just doesn't work that way.

Labels: most cable has little letters on it. Anything with the syllable "pro" in it is probably not pro, but you never know. If it is real Canare starquad, or Mogami, or Gotham, or Belden, it will say right on the cable and you can google it to see how many wires are inside. However, why bother, since you will still need to pop open the connector to make sure it is wired right. The most common type of quad by Canare, unless you are using a snake, is L-4E6S. It is printed every few feet on the cable. http://www.canare.com/ProductItemDisplay.aspx?productItemID=53

Where to buy the real thing, hand soldered? http://stores.ebay.com/renoaudioandtradecompany/ If you want Gotham, you will pay a bit more and they are available from Redco.

Lastly, and sadly, the advice from someone working in your local store is completely useless. If they knew what they were doing, they would not be working in the store.

Happy cabling!