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DJ Tech Reviews

the sssnake SM

A cheap, quiet XLR cable in four colours for fixed setups and spares; thin for heavy nightly gigging.

the sssnake SM6BK coiled, with its female and male XLR plugs

Photos: Thomann (the sssnake)

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Only 1 professional review so far, none recommending it

See reviews
Best for
Fixed setups, spare cables and colour-coding lines on a tight budget.
Skip it if
You gig every night and need a cable built for heavy road use.

The Internet’s Opinion

From 1 professional review and 107 owner reviews: a fair amount of evidence.

Owners rate it as a cheap, quiet microphone cable, many report years of use, and the coloured versions are popular for telling lines apart. The reservations are a thin, light build that several keep for home, rehearsal or fixed setups, plugs that can be stiff or loose, and a few failures; Bonedo's one shoot-out found its REAN plugs hard to plug and unplug.

0 recommend1 mixed0 avoid

What people praise

  • Good value for the price
  • Coloured versions make channels and owners' cables easy to tell apart
  • No hum, noise or interference
Show 5 more
  • Plugs fit well and feel solid
  • Flexible and coils without tangling
  • Years of regular use without a fault
  • Holds up at gigs and rehearsals
  • Easy to repair, or to reuse the plugs

What to know first

  • Thin and lightly built; better for home, rehearsal or fixed setups than heavy stage use
  • Crackle, loose contacts or failure, sometimes within months
  • Plugs can be stiff to insert and release, or sit loosely
Show 3 more
  • Less supple than pricier cables; can twist or keep a kink
  • Lasts only if handled and coiled with care
  • The red is paler than expected, close to orange
See the 1 reviews behind this

1 professional review (1 mixed); 107 owner reviews read at Thomann across both lengths and all four coloursCompiled 2026-11-07How this is compiled

Prices

Before you buy

Released
November 1999
Status
Current

Works with

  • XLR master outputs on DJ controllers and all-in-onesMale socket, female plug

    The Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX10 and XDJ-RX3 have balanced XLR Master 1 outputs; the cable's female end plugs into them and its male end into the speaker. Manufacturer spec sheet (AlphaTheta (DDJ-FLX10 manual)), checked 2026-11-07

  • DJ mixers with an XLR masterBalanced master

    The Pioneer DJ DJM-450 has an XLR master output beside its RCA master. Manufacturer spec sheet (AlphaTheta (DJM-450 manual)), checked 2026-11-07

  • Powered speakers and studio monitors with XLR inputsBalanced XLR input

    The Mackie Thump GO takes XLR or 1/4-inch TRS on its combo inputs, and the JBL 305P MkII has a balanced XLR input. Manufacturer spec sheet (Mackie (Thump GO spec sheet)), checked 2026-11-07

  • Dynamic microphonesMade as a mic cable

    Thomann sells the SM as a microphone cable, XLR 3-pin female to XLR 3-pin male, for a mic into an XLR or combo mic input. Manufacturer spec sheet (Thomann (the sssnake)), checked 2026-11-07

You’ll also need

  • A second cableOne per side

    A stereo XLR master has separate left and right sockets, so a pair of speakers needs two cables of the same length. Manufacturer spec sheet (AlphaTheta (DDJ-FLX10 manual)), checked 2026-11-07

  • A TRS-to-XLR cable for a booth outputBooth outputs are TRS

    The DDJ-FLX10's booth output is a balanced 1/4-inch TRS jack, so a monitor's XLR input needs a TRS-to-XLR male cable rather than this one. Manufacturer spec sheet (AlphaTheta (DDJ-FLX10 manual)), checked 2026-11-07

Key specs

Lengths
6 m (SM6) and 10 m (SM10), each in black, red, blue or yellow
Connectors
3-pin XLR female to 3-pin XLR male
Conductors
2 twisted cores, 0.22 mm² (AWG 24) each, 20 strands of 0.12 mm oxygen-free copper, with a cotton filler
Shield
Spiral winding of 84 bare oxygen-free copper strands (0.10 mm), at least 90% coverage
Outer diameter
6.0 mm
Jacket
Flexible matte PVC
All 7 specifications
Warranty
3 years (Thomann warranty)

7 of 7 figures sourced; hover one for its source

Our take

Rory TassellWritten from the sources on this page, not from a loan unit.

Bonedo's shoot-out, the one professional review, is mixed: it found the REAN plugs hard to plug and unplug but called it fine for fixed setups. Of 107 Thomann owner reviews, 57 praise the value, 30 use the colours to tell lines apart and 17 report no noise. Thirteen find it thin and keep it for home or fixed use, and six had crackle or a failure. Buy it for fixed setups and spares; for nightly gigs, choose a road cable.

What it is

Status, November 2026: current. Thomann still sells the SM6BK and the other SM lengths and colours under its own brand, the sssnake.

What it is

The SM is Thomann's own-brand microphone cable, with a 3-pin XLR female plug at one end and an XLR male plug at the other. It comes in 6 m (SM6) and 10 m (SM10) lengths, each in black, red, blue or yellow (Thomann listing). Thomann's datasheet gives two twisted 0.22 mm² (AWG 24) oxygen-free copper cores with a cotton filler, a spiral copper shield with at least 90% coverage, and a flexible matte PVC jacket 6 mm across. Thomann does not name the plug maker; Bonedo's 2020 shoot-out found REAN plugs on the blue SM6BL. Thomann's own warranty is three years.

The female end plugs into an XLR master output, such as Master 1 on the Pioneer DJ DDJ-FLX10, and the male end into a speaker or monitor; a stereo pair needs two. Of 107 owner reviews read at Thomann across both lengths and all four colours, 57 praise the value, 30 use the colours to tell channels apart and 11 describe years of use without a fault. Thirteen find it thin and lightly built and keep it for home, rehearsal or fixed setups, five found the plugs stiff or loose, and six had crackle or a failure.

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