Digital RCA vs AES/EBU connections

It needs to be pointed out that some components have balanced outputs but DO NOT have fully balanced circuitry. And in this case may actually degrade sound if XLRs are used. Components with fully balanced circuitry are more expensive, and the only way to know for sure if the component is fully balanced is to contact the manufacturer. That said, Sonic Frontiers strongly recommends using the balanced outputs of their fully balanced Line series of pre-amps and Power series amps. I have their Line 2 pre-amp but haven't tried XLRs yet, but intend to, as all my components are fully balanced. One reason (maybe?) to prefer XLR is that they provide a more positive connection, ie I have some high quality RCA ICs that are a little loose,-- and no way to tighten them. A Synergistic Research Tech. Rep. said he personally preferred RCA interconnects for its (perceived) slightly fuller, richer sound, BUT he also said that among his collegues he was probably out voted by those who preferred balanced. Like everything else in this weird hobby, you just have to try it and see which you prefer. That's what I intend to do. Cheers. Craig.

Garfish's explaination is correct but not for digital connects only analog. The AES/EBU looks like a balanced interconnect but the AES/EBU receiver chips have not similarity to the balanced circuitry on the analoge side. AES/EBU shares the common mode rejection but that's about all with balanced. AES/EBU has a higher bandwidth then digital coax or optical and from an engineering perspective is superior. If a Coax cable sounds better its because the AES/EBU implementation is flawed on the particular pair of components. Also AES/EBU cables are more likely to sound similar (ie from cheap to expensive) because the engineering has more margin on bandwidth.

Any recommendations for a true 75 ohm RCA cable?

Keis wrote "Garfish's explaination is correct but not for digital connects only analog" Maybe he's from Florida and didn't read the posting correctly :-)

Garfield. I know from experience that the Sonic Frontiers preamps are significantly better when using balanced out - this is because they have better dynamics this way - it has little to do with the bal vs unbal debate, just the way the SF gear is designed. You may be in for a treat.