Balanced vs RCA preamp output

I have numerous true balanced pieces. I have found without exception that they sound best using balanced cables instead of single-ended. Case in point: BAT. I have the VK50SE preamp and the D5SE CD. Another case in point, Levinson, both the 333 and 33H. All of these components came to life with noticeable improvement in sound with balanced use. Don't even consider BAT unless you run fully balanced. Your mileage may vary!

beemer

I tend to agree Beemer - the Sonic Frontiers is another case in point. But there are also amps that have balanced connections that are not internally balanced at all. These tend to sound worse when using balanced cables, than with RCA.

Hi Johnny; it appears that you need a dissenting opinion. I have a fully balanced Sonic Frontiers Line 2 pre-amp and fully balanced McCormack DNA-2 Rev. A amp-- both also have RCA outputs. I've tried both balanced (XLR) and the more common RCA, and keep going back to RCA ICs. With XLR, in my system, music became overly dry, detailed, and near analytical, whereas with RCA ICs, music is more liquid, smoother, more coherent, more "rounded". If you can, try them both and see which you prefer. Cheers. Craig.

I would tend to agree with Garfish. I have tried both and am very happy single ended. My Audible Illusions 3A and BEL 1001 MK3A's do not offer the option of balanced, but I have owned balance equipment in the past (Classe CA 300 and CP60) and tried both. Some of the very best equipment out there does not offer balanced so not everyone is completely sold on it. By the way I do run 16 foot interconnect between preamp and power amps. Do try it both ways with your gear and see what your ears tell you. One clear advantage with balanced is you do not need to spend big bucks on interconect as you will hear far less difference with balanced cables than single ended. Then again I do not recommend that anyone spend big bucks on cable anyway. To much snake oil and false advertising, not to mention outrageous price markup in that industry. Have fun with it.

I have to agree with Tswhitsel. Depending on your gear, single-ended may actually sound better than balanced. If you have a noise problem or slight ground loop hum or buzz because of all the gear piled into your audio rack, the balanced interconnects will likely solve this problem. Otherwise, balanced isn't ALWAYS better.