2. amps-preamps
  3. 128510-2280

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?

128x128lowrider57
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,504 posts
 
Thanks Ralph. Great points and well said.
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lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57 OP
5,417 posts
 
Thanks for the comments, Al and Ralph.
@atmasphere , on a side note, I discovered the Yr album by Steve Tibbetts in 1980 while working at my college radio station and flipped out over his music. We put it into Heavy Rotation. That's where I got my start in audio engineering, since Syracuse was a top broadcast school, engineers were full-time employees and required to have an FCC license.

Now, getting back to my SE design question regarding CJ, is this a case of the company finding a design that reproduced very high quality sound and stayed with it since their products were and are still are so successful?
@almarg made a related comment...
I'd imagine that a factor in many cases is that designers tend to use approaches they are familiar with, and that build upon their previous work, unless there is a compelling reason to change. And the fact that any given design is likely to be used in many systems in conjunction with associated components that are single-ended would seem to make the case for change less compelling.

georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Just to mention if I'm correct, seeing no one has.
  
A totally Single Ended design doesn't have a Phase Splitter (driver) tube, as Push Pull ones have.

Cheers George   
don_c55
1,025 posts
 
I have always wondered why "almost nobody" buys (or even tries) inexpensive "pro" balanced cables, on the "true fully balanced" audio equipment, such as Pass Labs and ARC. They sound the same as the expensive ones IMO!

This topic has been "put to bed" every time it comes up.

Also why do reviewers not "call out" the equipment manufacturers, with "fake" balanced connections?

Seems like most all audiophiles like to waste money, or are just stupid!

This is strange???


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