John nailed it, +1.
Why Single-Ended?
I’ve long wondered why some manufacturers design their components to be SE only. I work in the industry and know that "balanced" audio lines have been the pro standard (for grounding and noise reduction reasons) and home stereo units started out as single-ended designs.
One reason components are not balanced is due to cost, and it’s good to be able to get high quality sound at an affordable price.
But, with so many balanced HiFi components available these days, why have some companies not offered a fully-balanced amp or preamp in their product line?
I’m referring to fine companies such as Conrad Johnson, Consonance, Coincident, and Bob Carver’s tube amps. CJ builds amps that sell for $20-$39K, so their design is not driven by cost.
The reason I’m asking is because in a system you might have a couple of balanced sources, balanced preamp, and then the final stage might be a tube amp or monoblocks which have SE input. How much of the total signal is lost in this type of setup? IOW, are we missing out on sonic bliss by mixing balanced and unbalanced?
One reason components are not balanced is due to cost, and it’s good to be able to get high quality sound at an affordable price.
But, with so many balanced HiFi components available these days, why have some companies not offered a fully-balanced amp or preamp in their product line?
I’m referring to fine companies such as Conrad Johnson, Consonance, Coincident, and Bob Carver’s tube amps. CJ builds amps that sell for $20-$39K, so their design is not driven by cost.
The reason I’m asking is because in a system you might have a couple of balanced sources, balanced preamp, and then the final stage might be a tube amp or monoblocks which have SE input. How much of the total signal is lost in this type of setup? IOW, are we missing out on sonic bliss by mixing balanced and unbalanced?
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- 101 posts total
As with John I've heard modest and excellent examples of both single ended and true balanced systems. Needless to say many variables determine the final sound heard with a component or full system. I appreciate the stated advantages of differential balanced circuits. Ironically some of the very finest audio systems I've ever heard were with the simpler (technically inferior?) single ended circuits. Either is capable of superb sound quality. Designer/builder talent, parts quality and implementation are major factors involved. Charles |
The reason that manufacturers designs vary is because no one single design has been proven to be superior.+1000!!! At the risk of beating a dead horse, virtually every design is a compromise. The "best" designs are those whose compromises have an end result that most closely matches the end user's value system. And that's leaving implementation (which is equally important) out of the equation altogether. Not to be flip, but that's why there is not only chocolate and vanilla, but also Ben & Jerry's and Hagen-Daz. |
We only do balanced http://pbnaudio.com/audio-components/audio-preamps/olympia-li-lxi Our power amplifiers have a fully balanced input stage as well and when used as mono blocks the output stage becomes fully balanced as well. http://pbnaudio.com/audio-components/audio-amplifiers/olympia-ebsa1 Even in our consumer direct line, Liberty Audio the topology is similar http://www.libertyaudio.com/products/b2b-2-line-level-preamp-dac Same goes for the power amplifier http://www.libertyaudio.com/products/b2b-100-all-mos-fet-stereo-power-amplifier And the phono preamplifier, obviously you will need two of them just like the power amplifier http://www.libertyaudio.com/products/b2b-1-all-fet-phono-preamp Good Listening Peter |
- 101 posts total