Balanced or single ended phono cable to Aesthetix Io?


I wonder, what is the user experience - what sounds best, with this phono preamp, using balanced (xlr) or single ended (rca) cables from the tone arm to the preamp.

I know this has been debated before - in 2012 here: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/aesthetix-io-eclipse
but the conclusion was not quite clear. Since the first gain stage of the Io is unbalanced, there should not be much difference, some people argued. Yet several users reported that balanced sounded best. So what is the experience, today?


o_holter

Hi o_holter, sorry that I wasn’t clear on my description! Actually, there was no cable needed, I just got a pair of male XLR plugs, soldered a resistor of the required value to pin 2 and 3, then simply plugged them into the XLR phono input for loading. With this, you set the loading of the internal dip switch to 47K ohm, and use the XLR plug to adjust loading.


I also have another pair of male XLR plugs, to which I soldered alligator clips to pin 2 and 3, so I can easily change resistors for testing.

 

I hope this helps!

thekong - that was innovative! what load did you end up with (and for what cartridge)?

o_holter, I just got the idea from the Wavestream Deluxe Phono, which had similar arrangement, only that both input and loading jacks are RCA.

 

In my system, I prefer 200 ohm with the Ortofon A90.

Since the Io has a single-ended input, using a balanced interconnect will still result in a single-ended connection.

The benefit of a balanced connection is that the interconnect cable will cease to have an influence on the sound of the system. It seems to me that the phono input is the best place for this sort of immunity.
Apparantly - and I stress apparently, because it is just something I have heard - so don't shoot the messenger.

Balanced (XLR) cables are significantly better where the cable is longer than 30+ feet. However, there is an opinion that the balanced circuitry that processes the balanced signal can vary greatly from one component to another so you can never be certain of whether the signal is not being coloured by that circuitry.

Single ended is much better suited to shorter runs and with the right cable architecture/geometry can out perform XLR and there is no processing of the signal - other than amplification

I have observed improved performance when using a 1 meter single ended cable vs. a 2 meter XLR cable, but how much of that was due to the Balanced circuitry as opposed to the cable materials and architecture I have no idea.

Something to investigate ? - maybe :-)