The local Mars Music store is going out of business here locally, and found this a prefect opportunity to pick up some stuff at a big discount. One of the things I got was a couple of large sections of Quad mic cable. I also picked up some Neutrik gold XLR connectors (another store, unfortunately) and will be making a few DIY quad mic cables for pretty cheap.

My question: I have heard 2 different opinions on how to solder these cables with respect to the shield (pin 1). Some opinions are that you should leave the shield disconnected at the female end of the plug to help avoid ground loop issues, and others are that you should wire them straight through, pin-to-pin.

Any comments or (other) opinions here?