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balanced connection, better than single ended?

If you have gear that can do balanced & unbalanced connections which is preferable and why? I have read that balanced connections are better for long runs of cable otherwise a single ended connections are fine but not sure of this since I have yet to use this sort of connection. Also I read that some gear is not truly balanced in their circuitry thus this gear may not benefit from a balanced connection. I ask only because I'm recently buying an amp that has true balanced circuitry but now must find a preamp of the same.
phd
tvad
9,467 posts
 
10-03-10: Rwwear
I don't necessarily think balanced sounds better except for the lower noise floor...

To me lower noise floor equals better sound. Whatever the noise reducing element: circuit design, power supply, power conditioning, cabling, etc.

No equivocation.
rwwear
2,692 posts
 
I guess I wasn't clear to all in my statement.
rwwear
2,692 posts
 
I guess I wasn't clear to all in my statement Tvad.
phd OP
1,008 posts
 
Onemug, I believe your right, it would be foolish just to buy a product because it is balanced. The Audio Research amp that I purchased is a true balanced design. But more importantly I like the way it sounds. I used to own it two years ago and never took advantage of its balanced technology but was thinking that this time I should try it in its fully balanced mode because maybe I missed something but now I'm not sure. But I still want to see for myself.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
5,112 posts
 
I have an all Ayre system where each component is truly balanced. There are connections as well for single ended use. I've tried both, and balanced is clearly better in this application...and not by a small degree.
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