Equi=Tech (it's an equal sign "=", not a dash) is the high-end professional balanced AC way to go. A Son of Q unit would be ideal, and both expensive and a bit difficult to find, for almost any home system. That said, thereby hangs a tale:
A few years ago, I determined that Equi=Tech was the way to go for balanced AC, but as noted their units are expensive and it seemed at the time they were universally on back-order. So I called Equi=Tech about 8 a. m. one morning to see what I could find out. Lo and behold, the President, Martin Glasband himself, answered. It was maybe 5 a. m. his time in Oregon. Well, turns out he's a classic rather eccentric genius, and he *loves* talk about his stuff. Moreover, he'll tell it to you straight. We talked for over an hour. The reason so much was on backorder at the time was because he'd received a large shipment of toroidal transformers that were slightly out of physical spec for his production units. The transformers he uses are built to a crazy perfectionist's standards and are supposedly the most technologically refined transformers made. I've no reason to argue. In this case, he had a bunch of transformers that worked just fine, but were a bit too big for his production units. Here's the kicker: He sold me one of those transformers, mounted in a grey steel electrical box, at a fraction of the price of a complete unit. It was plenty easy enough to wire up myself. Martin pointed out that the transformer is essentially 100% of the useful funtionality of his balanced AC units, and that the rest amounts to decorative and convienience I/O and packaging.
So what I have from Equi=Tech ain't pretty, but it sure does work! The transformer itself does not get warm, and does not waste power, AT ALL. Likewise, it does not boost, or drop the voltage, nor does is seem to restrict the current flow in any noticeable respect whatsoever. BUT it does result in an overall noise reduction in my studio system of something like 15 dB, VERY worthwhile. It's dead silent. Most of the better professional recording and mastering studios I know of use the larger balanced transformers/systems from Equi=Tech for very good reason. Check them out: http://www.equitech.com/
A few years ago, I determined that Equi=Tech was the way to go for balanced AC, but as noted their units are expensive and it seemed at the time they were universally on back-order. So I called Equi=Tech about 8 a. m. one morning to see what I could find out. Lo and behold, the President, Martin Glasband himself, answered. It was maybe 5 a. m. his time in Oregon. Well, turns out he's a classic rather eccentric genius, and he *loves* talk about his stuff. Moreover, he'll tell it to you straight. We talked for over an hour. The reason so much was on backorder at the time was because he'd received a large shipment of toroidal transformers that were slightly out of physical spec for his production units. The transformers he uses are built to a crazy perfectionist's standards and are supposedly the most technologically refined transformers made. I've no reason to argue. In this case, he had a bunch of transformers that worked just fine, but were a bit too big for his production units. Here's the kicker: He sold me one of those transformers, mounted in a grey steel electrical box, at a fraction of the price of a complete unit. It was plenty easy enough to wire up myself. Martin pointed out that the transformer is essentially 100% of the useful funtionality of his balanced AC units, and that the rest amounts to decorative and convienience I/O and packaging.
So what I have from Equi=Tech ain't pretty, but it sure does work! The transformer itself does not get warm, and does not waste power, AT ALL. Likewise, it does not boost, or drop the voltage, nor does is seem to restrict the current flow in any noticeable respect whatsoever. BUT it does result in an overall noise reduction in my studio system of something like 15 dB, VERY worthwhile. It's dead silent. Most of the better professional recording and mastering studios I know of use the larger balanced transformers/systems from Equi=Tech for very good reason. Check them out: http://www.equitech.com/