balanced connection, better than single ended?

Hello Arthmaspere.

" The raison d'etre of balanced line is to be able to use any balanced cable cable of any length (or cost) and have that cable have zero sonic artifact. So it does not matter the length (nor price); there is always an advantage to balanced lines."

By saying that "...that [balanced] cable have zero sonic artifact" do you imply that any sonic effect of cable capacitance, inductance and other electrical characteristics effecting the single ended cable sound - vanish? Gone? Diminished?

I would much appreciate if you can expand on this very interesting statement

Next point: Spectron wrote:

"I must state for the record that some (e.g. differential) balanced amplifiers will still utilize your single ended signal but most probably not in fullest extend - it can be debated."

and indeed you debate it - which is absolutely fine and even great! However, it confirms Spectron strong recommendation:

".... You got to speak with manufacturer of your equipment to untilize it in FULL."

Indeed, there are so many ideas, designs, technologies, ways of implementation that its almost a must.

Thank you !

do you imply that any sonic effect of cable capacitance, inductance and other electrical characteristics effecting the single ended cable sound - vanish? Gone? Diminished?

Yes, either gone entirely or dramatically diminished. IME 'gone' is a lot closer than 'diminished'.

Spectron is right that some differential amps will sound better with a balanced input. But- if the amp is properly designed, really the only difference that will be heard will be that the single ended source, plugged into such an amp, will sound inferior due to the cable artifact.

I did own the ARC VT-100 and thought it sounded better using the RCA inputs. The only balanced preamp I had (Sonic Frontiers) was not really that great anyway and the "single ended" preamp (ARC LS3) was really much better sounding anyway , imo, in my system. So, there are so many more factors that just "bal" - vs -"se".

I also tried running a Wadia CD player direct into the VT100 using the XLRs and I just dont think the two liked each other? I thought it may be causeing more than just a sonic mismatch problem.

Atmasphere,

Are there any cases in which you would recommend an RCA to balanced conversion to convert single-ended outputs to balanced inputs?

Only to run long balanced cables?

For differential amps?

Some such as Rowland Research claim balancing transformers perform better than differentially balanced circuits and simply use Jensen Transformers to attain a balanced output. Audio Research has also done the same thing with some of their preamps and line stages. Audio Research's Ref Phono Stage is an example. Anyone with a little know how can add Jensen's balancing transformers to a components outputs.