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Switched from RCA to XLR Interconnects - WOW

I just received a set of Pangea True Balanced Premier SE XLR interconnects from Audio Advisor and connected them between my phono preamp to my amp.
I really didn't expect to hear any major difference, but man was I wrong.  The sound quality is night and day improved over my previous cables (Clear Day Cables RCA cables).  The improvement in bass response is amazing, and the soundstage got about 2 feet wider and deeper.  Mids and highs are also more clearly defined, and the backgrounds are about as black as I have ever heard.   What also surprised me is how much hotter the signal is into the amp.  I had to turn the volume down quite a bit to equal levels I usually listed to with the previous cables.
FYI, the preamp is a Parasound JC3+ and the amp is a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400.  
I'm really impressed.  I had always wanted to try using balanced cables but this is the first amp I have owned that had balanced inputs.  
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almarg
8,673 posts
 
Does this mean that its output is not a true balanced design?

No. I took a look at the manual and the specs for your DSPeaker, and the fact that the maximum output voltages are specified as being approximately twice as great for the XLR outputs as for the RCA outputs strongly suggests that the XLR outputs are being provided with a balanced pair of signals.

Given that, and also that you are driving a Pass amp and using a particularly long cable, I would definitely suggest trying a balanced Canare cable, or alternatively a Mogami Gold Studio cable. There is a possibility that the results would not be preferable, depending mainly on the sonic quality of the DSPeaker’s XLR outputs compared to its RCA outputs, but chances are good that there will be an improvement.

Good luck. Regards,
-- Al
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I have a seven meter balanced cable between my preamp and amp. In the past I have used RCA Kimber PBJ (no problem) XLR Kimber Hero.. a home made with Kimber wire XLR, and finally a Kimber KS 1116 pair of XLR. The KS1116 are superior to any others I had. Clearly an improvement. I balked at the cost for several years, but finally bought them. The rest of my system has a mix of RCA and XLR. I cannot say the XLR have any superior sound advantage over the RCA within this Kimber model. Though at this point I am not about to buy a $3000  seven meter RCA KS just to say what I think of it here.
inna
5,245 posts
 
I don't think Lamm uses XLR at all. This is surely a junk of an equipment. What kind of nonsense do I read ? 
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
inna, your post is a little too far in the shade. MY reading your post makes me think you are saying Lamm, which is a great brand (ditto Conrad Johnson) do not use XLR. and sound great. So the 'notion' that XLR are required for good sound is WRONG.Is that the gist of what you wrote?
inna
5,245 posts
 
Elizabeth, precisely.
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