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Is balanced necessarily better?

Assuming fully balanced equipment that also offers single ended connections, and no RFI problems, is the use of balanced interconnects necessarily the better way to go? My forum search indicates some who say balanced is better because the connectors are inherently better and because of noise cancelling properties associated with the signal flowing in both directions; and others who say for reasonably short runs and no interference problems that rca/single-ended connections sound better in many cases, maybe because the signal has less circuitry to traverse. This has come up for me because I am considering different preamp alternatives, and if I decide not to stay with a fully balanced system, I have more choices. To give things a try I substituted some old AudioTruth rca cables for my Luminous Sychestra Sig balanced cables. Except for the 6db loss in output, I have initially found the rca cables to sound a little smoother, with more rounded images, a little plumper bass, and what initially sounds like a more "musical" presentation. The system is a Muse Model 10 source/Muse Model 3 Sig pre/McCormack DNA 500/Aerial 9's. BTW, Steve McCormack told me the DNA 500 sees the signal the same way whether balanced or single-ended, and didn't seem to think the amp would sound significantly different either way. Therefore, even though many manufacturers are now offering more balanced equipment, especially at the upper end, others such as CJ continue to make only single-ended equipment. What are do you guys think, is balanced necessarily better?
mitch2
bigtee
803 posts
 
My thoughts are if the equipment is truly balanced and allows for a truly balanced connection, run it that way. Why do you want to go through a process of changing it to SE? It's like going from SE to balanced, why go through the added splitter or whatever to get it when it really want sound a bit better, if as good? My point is, keep things simple.
My Calypso preamp takes anything single ended and converts it to balanced internally. Therefore, why would I not want to run balanced interconnects so it wasn't required to do that.
I definitely think there's more to the picture than noise. The up or down conversion is an issue also. I trust manufacturers like Ayre, Theta, Aesthetix and others who say balanced is better with their equipment. I know they have done their homework.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,517 posts
 
Bigtee -- perfectly put!
ratsb0dd
41 posts
 
Are you sure we are not misconstruing balanced input/outputs and complemetry topology? The magic of cancelling noise that is picked up in balanced interconnects occurs in the balanced input stage that converts the balanced signal to a single ended one.

From that point on the amplifier can be of complementry design.

steve
shadorne's avatar
Ag insider logo xs@2x
shadorne
7,333 posts
 
There is a lot of literature and it can be confusing as not everyone connects things in the same way or even grounds components in the same manner.

Here is another link

http://www.rane.com/note110.html

XLR balanced connections usually have Pin 1 as both cable shield and chassis ground. Pin 2 and 3 carry the signals. The connector is just a connector and protector.... it is most often not electrically connected to the cable wires even if it connects to the chassis ground of the component when the connection is made.

I fully agree with some comments above that balanced will have a cleaner signal processing as the -ve signal is not connected to the chassis ground as it most often is in RCA. Cleaner signal equals less noise pick up. Balanced clearly has an advantage in this sense.

I think the differences on this thread revolve around whether a more complex design and cleaner signal path is needed for most home audio. This is a matter of opinion, circumstances and personal experience. I think people will always draw the line differently.

The many manufacturers who do not bother with the additional cost of balanced designs and the many audiophiles who still pay huge $$$ for components with only the cheaper RCA connections and unbalanced designs, obviously believe RCA and chassis ground is good enough for the -ve signal. The home audio market may not be educated about the problems of noise or has never suffered significant noise problems with connecting a variety of components, but the market reflects people's opinions in what is built and sold.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,517 posts
 
I think Shadorne's comment:

"The home audio market may not be educated about the problems of noise or has never suffered significant noise problems "

is important, because in discussing BAL vs. SE, it's the noise you can't hear (consciously) that contributes to (what I consider) a qualitative difference between the two.

Steve is correct about the location of the noise cancellation -- it's at the input end of the cable. However, components with truly balanced circuit topology do not convert balanced input signals to SE. Rather they convert SE signals to pseudo-balanced signals.
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