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In Reply to: RE: XLR VS RCA (my experience) posted by thebordas on January 31, 2015 at 17:22:55
When it comes down to cables/cords, do not over-think, simply enjoy the music!
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True
dave_b
The reason I brought that up was that I WAS CALLED on the balanced / single ended conversion issue.
My DAC outputs either, so I went with balanced.
My OLD integrated was true balanced but my new preamp is NOT. So, using the balanced I convert at the DAC to balanced, and at the preamp, BACK to single ended. Someone brought up the possible sonic consequences.
Just curious as to general opinions.
Too much is never enough
I have an email into Krell on this issue. Patrick will give me the skinny on this balanced/RCA issue;)
dave_b
I think the answer you might get would go something like this:
For LONG runs, advantage balanced. I don't know HOW long, maybe 12' or 15' UP?
For equipment with REAL balanced design, advantage balanced
Single ended to balanced, and BACK, conversions only potentially damage the sound.
If I understand correctly, a REAL balanced design should have about a 6db edge over the single ended version of the SAME piece.
For systems with NOISE problems, you might want to try balanced, if available.
Since all my runs are short, nothing is native balanced and I have no noise problems, I'm using all single ended, except from my DAC to preamp where I suspect I'm not really helping.
My amps have the additional advantage of a single ended loop OUT / IN so all I need is ONE run to the amp for my biamp setup. Loop in/out is done with a very short (18") single ended run.
Please post the 'official' reply ::
Too much is never enough
"If I understand correctly, a REAL balanced design should have about a 6db edge over the single ended version of the SAME piece."
This is due to most balanced signals also being differential, ie twice the amplitude. One benefit of impedance balancing is it allows differential noise coupled to the signal lines to appear as a common mode voltage at the receiver input. Receiver circuits of various flavors (such as op amps) are generally designed to reject common mode voltage on their inputs.
Nice point- Ugly.
What I'm starting to gather is that balanced does have more circuitry involved, especially true mirror imaged complementary fully balanced designs, which also happen to carry the noise in the signal through the entire circuit until it is cancelled out! Sounds like RCA May have a measurably higher noise/hum but does less harm to the signal in absolute terms. In most cases RCA would be potentially purer sounding with all harmonics intact and the xtra noise below audibility:))
dave_b
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