Cable Asylum

Interconnects, speaker wire, power cords. Ask the Cable Guys.

Use this form to submit comments directly to the Asylum moderators for this forum. We're particularly interested in truly outstanding posts that might be added to our FAQs.
You may also use this form to provide feedback or to call attention to messages that may be in violation of our content rules.

You must login to use this feature.

Inmate Login

By default, logging in will set a session cookie that disappears when you close your browser. Clicking on the 'Remember my Moniker & Password' below will cause a permanent 'Login Cookie' to be set.

Moniker/Username: The Name that you picked or by default, your email. Forgot Moniker?	Examples "Rapper", "Bob W", "joe@aol.com".
Password:	Forgot Password?
	Remember my Moniker & Password ( What's this?)

If you don't have an Asylum Account, you can create one by clicking Here.

Our privacy policy can be reviewed by clicking Here.

Inmate Comments

From:
Your Email:
Subject:

Message Comments

Original Message

Yet another question about balanced vs unbalanced signals

Posted by tlea on February 10, 2017 at 06:04:57:
Not sure which is the best forum for this, but am trying Cable Asylum first.
I am auditioning a new integrated tube amp that has only one pair of balanced inputs (XLR). So I have to choose between phono and DAC which to connect to the balanced port. Both units have XLR output, but the sources feeding the DAC are unbalanced.
Int Amp = Ayon Spirit III
Phono stage = Rogue Ares
Phono cart = Dyna 20X2L
DAC = CI Audio VDA-2 with balanced output option
Digital sources fed through the DAC = CAL CD transport (RCA) and SonicOrbiter (Toslink)
Cables are Cardas Cross XLR (phono) and Harmonic Tech XLR (DAC)
The question is: Which source will benefit more from the balanced connection?
Thanks in advance.