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How much difference between balanced XLR and RCA

Balanced(XLR) vs RCA interconnects.

Does it make much of difference in sound quality?

I'm getting power amp with balanced in, and thinking about between Meridian 561 and Anthem avm20 pre/pro.

Meridain 561 looks like a great deal these days, but it lacks the balanced out...

Sort of feeling quilty of getting a pre/pro without balanced out while my amp will have the balanced in...

eandylee
kehut's avatar
kehut
668 posts
 
Ozfly pretty much has great advice. I have heard RCA's sound just as good as XLR in any given set up. One place I hear a nice improvement is in a longer run of cable from my pre amp to amp. I found balanced did 3 things better in my set up. It lowered the niose floor adding to dynamics, increased the bass response and gave a wider soundstage.
Enjoy!
s7horton
1,077 posts
 
Check with your manufacturer, some that I know of say that their component is designed to run either balanced or singled ended better than the other, but offer both ways for connection. Musical Fidelity for one beileves that their components sound best with singled ended, and thus, don't offer balanced outputs, or inputs.
peter_s
1,348 posts
 
Also depends if your living environment has alot of RF noise. Balanced filters all of that out. If you live out in the country, it doesn't matter. If you live in the heart of Manhattan, you may see some benefit.
proy
48 posts
 
I have heared many times that RCA out of a CD Player sounds much better than XLR. I think you should try yours out and see if it does or not.
Note: I use all XLR
satch
329 posts
 
Most important is the signal fed into any cable, balanced or RCA. Even the 'best' balanced cable can't improve a bad signal. The Meridian is a very nice piece of equipment, so if that sounds better to your ears, forget about the type of connections and enjoy the music.
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