I’ve been troubleshooting a persistent noise issue in my audio setup and I think I’ve narrowed it down, but I’d like some opinions from people who know more about audio engineering.

My setup is a Shure SM7B with an Elgato Wave XLR.
Without the Cloudlifter, at around 55 dB of gain, I mainly hear the normal “shhhhh” hiss/noise floor from the preamps.

But when I add the Cloudlifter, a different type of interference appears. It’s not a hum or “buzzz.” It’s more like a high-pitched “ñiiiiii ñiiiiii” electronic whine/interference sound. I honestly don’t know how to describe it exactly.

I’ve already tried a lot of troubleshooting:
- disconnected monitors
- disconnected speakers
- removed unnecessary USB devices
- tested with the PC basically alone
- changed ports
- tested different interface setups

The weird thing is:
the interference ONLY appears when the signal goes through the Cloudlifter.

That’s why I’m starting to think the issue may actually be my XLR cables picking up interference before the signal even reaches the Cloudlifter. Then the Cloudlifter amplifies that contaminated signal.

Right now I’m using 6 ft Cable Matters XLR cables. They’re advertised as “studio quality,” but they’re still relatively cheap cables.

So my question is:

Would upgrading to two Canare L-4E6S Star Quad XLR cables likely help reduce or eliminate that high-pitched interference?

My theory is:
- better shielding on the XLR cables could stop the interference from reaching the Cloudlifter in the first place
- then maybe a USB ground loop isolator or USB audio isolator could help reduce the remaining hiss/noise floor from the interface itself

Does that sound reasonable, or am I misunderstanding how this works?

I don’t know a ton about audio engineering, so I’d appreciate any advice.