I don't mean to hijack this DAC thread but I'd like to chime in on the Callisto and running balanced. When I switched to CAT amps, I had no choice but to change over to RCA ICs as these amps are single-ended only. And then when I got the Callisto, I continued with single-ended cables. I have not compared the Callisto driving amps with balanced vs. single-ended same-model ICs but the 10m Purist Dominus RCA cable works beautifully here.
However, the Callisto inputs are a totally different story at least with the companion Io phono stage. This pair absolutely MUST be run balanced or the soundstage is significantly diminshed. I don't care what any reviewer might write - with the same exact cable model, the single-ended cable takes away much of the magic of these two models as a full-function preamp. This was very clear when I tried Purist Dominus and Kubala-Sosna Emotion single-ended cables compared to the balanced NBS Statement. The less resolving and not as tonally coherent balanced NBS cable brought on a level of musicality here that these other single-ended cables did not. But when I put in a balanced Kubala-Sosna Emotion cable, all of the dimensionality returned plus a significant level of resolution over the NBS. A return to the single-ended Emotion cable and the soundstage collapsed. It was not subtle.
When I did the same test with the Manley Ref DAC into the Callisto, there was only a slight level change which made me conclude this DAC must not have truly balanced outputs. The single-ended Dominus and K-S Emotion from the DAC to the Callisto significantly bettered the balanced NBS in ever way. This made me conclude that the benefit of the balanced cable issue above was more due to the Io. But there was still a slight benefit with the balanced vs. single-ended Emotion cables from the DAC to the Callisto in the context of more air and space between the notes. Here I can only speculate that the Callisto goes through a different path to "up" the single-ended inputs to a balanced signal and this ultimately leads to a slight loss in resolution. So in the final analysis, balanced inputs to the Callisto is the way to go.
John
However, the Callisto inputs are a totally different story at least with the companion Io phono stage. This pair absolutely MUST be run balanced or the soundstage is significantly diminshed. I don't care what any reviewer might write - with the same exact cable model, the single-ended cable takes away much of the magic of these two models as a full-function preamp. This was very clear when I tried Purist Dominus and Kubala-Sosna Emotion single-ended cables compared to the balanced NBS Statement. The less resolving and not as tonally coherent balanced NBS cable brought on a level of musicality here that these other single-ended cables did not. But when I put in a balanced Kubala-Sosna Emotion cable, all of the dimensionality returned plus a significant level of resolution over the NBS. A return to the single-ended Emotion cable and the soundstage collapsed. It was not subtle.
When I did the same test with the Manley Ref DAC into the Callisto, there was only a slight level change which made me conclude this DAC must not have truly balanced outputs. The single-ended Dominus and K-S Emotion from the DAC to the Callisto significantly bettered the balanced NBS in ever way. This made me conclude that the benefit of the balanced cable issue above was more due to the Io. But there was still a slight benefit with the balanced vs. single-ended Emotion cables from the DAC to the Callisto in the context of more air and space between the notes. Here I can only speculate that the Callisto goes through a different path to "up" the single-ended inputs to a balanced signal and this ultimately leads to a slight loss in resolution. So in the final analysis, balanced inputs to the Callisto is the way to go.
John