XLR to USB/3.5mm cables that'll work on Ubuntu?

Audio Hardware & Software
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I’m looking to buy a $10-$15 XLR → Usb or XLR → 3.5mm cable for a dynamic mic I’ve purchased; however I’m worried about compatibility. Does anyone know if these products work natively with Ubuntu?

edit: a review specified that the cable worked on linux mint, does this mean that it should also work on ubuntu?

edit2: i put in the order, i’ll let you know what happens

edit3: Everything finally came in and worked out of the box on the latest ubuntu LTS. I’m happy with the quality. My only complaint is that on Ubuntu the default audio out needs to be adjusted to prevent the usb cable’s interface from being the default output device after every reboot.

edit4/5: Removed the sample audio of my voice because privacy.

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Most USB interfaces will work on Linux.

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Does the Mic require phantom power?

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This is the first thread I’ve ever seen asking if a cable has drivers.

Bravo.

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No, since it’s dynamic. At least that’s what this video says.

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Well XLR is analog and USB is digital, so there is some converting going on which means an ADC. Linux would need some dort of driver to talk to that no?

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I don’t think they’re implying that drivers aren’t necessary, but instead amused by the peculiarness of the question. At least that’s how I read it.

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Yes, in all likelihood, it will work perfectly out of the box. Probably without you needing to do anything. The way drivers work on Linux is that what you need is already in the kernel 99.9% of the time, irrespective of distribution.

I’m more concerned about the quality (or even exsistance) of the preamp in that “cable”. Dynamic microphones are notoriously quiet, meaning they need a lot of gain for you to get the right volume levels out of it. And if the preamp in your converter is really cheap, that often means bringing with it a LOT of noise. So, if you end up having that problem, now you know the likely culprit. The solution is either adding a Cloudlifter, or buying a more proper audio interface.

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XLR is a connector type, can carry anything from Single Ended Audio, Balanced Audio, AES/EBU to DMX

You need to put some form of Mic Pre-Amp before the mic out signal is at useable levels.
Some audio interfaces have “okay” to “good enough” pre-amps built in.

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I haven’t used that specific cable, but all of the Tascam audio interfaces I used on Linux work out of the box with the standard Linux snd_usb_audio kernel module and don’t need any extra software. I have 2 XLRs on a Tascam US-2x2 right now that worked out of the box on Arch, Ubuntu and CentOS (and FreeBSD). Actually, only Windows 10 needed a driver downloading :thinking:

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I think Aremis was getting at the 3.5mm part mentioned as an alternative to the xlr to usb… a 3.5mm connection is also analog. This threw me off too; my first thought was a cable is a cable it compatibility wouldn’t be a concern.

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