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
a very tired topic which has been debated ad nauseam. Ralph always beats the balanced drum as that is what he sells. Others beat the SE drum because that is what they sell, Look through the old posts and find as many of these just like this one as you want.

BTW despite what Ralph contends phono cartridges are NOT balanced as there is no ground, no ground  pin connection, only 2 lines out. 

All sound sources are single ended, compressions and refractions.

When you get to the speaker they are all single ended, they move in and out, no balance. 

There are  also a lot of misconception about balanced and differential, two related but different things.

Ayre is misleading you with "zero feedback." It is no global feedback, but all solid state designs must provide some local feedback or they will be unstable.

Bottom line, I've heard many, many, many systems and the best to me have always been highly efficient speakers driven by a minimum number of SE stages. From DAC output to speaker I have 2 tubes both SE  because I only need a few watts of power .... bliss....  It is indisputable that SE tubes operated properly are the lowest distortion (most linear) stages 

If you choose equipment based on topology versus how it sounds you will lose. It is the sound, not the implementation.

Hey Ralph, I've been gone for a few years, interesting to see the same things debated over and over and over
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/balanced-is-inherently-flawed

here's a post I started 12 years ago on the same topic. I admit I did it just to start a debate, but shows how this has been ongoing since the beginning of audio and will never be resolved
Herman,
Admittedly there is redundancy of topics on audio forums and we all know the drill.
Tubes vs solid state.
Digital vs analog sources. 
Passive vs active 
High efficiency speakers vs lower efficiency speakers. 
On and on it goes. 
Yet sometimes meaningful debate and perspective can still arise from seemingly tired topics.   This is an example of such an occasion. 
Herman welcome back to audiogon 😊. 
Charles 
Thanks Charles,

One final point. I don't mean to disparage Ralph or anyone else for promoting what he sells, well, other than the crackpot selling magic pebbles, flowers,  and clocks. Ralph's points have  basis in fact and I have no doubt he truly believes in what he promotes. But back to the bottom line... in a home environment I've never heard better than SE low powered tube amplification into highly efficient speakers.

YMMV

Herman,
Ralph has integrity and believes in his product and is thus understandably passionate in his advocacy of differential balanced topology,  fine with me. I happen to share your preference regarding SE low power amplifier choice and matching speakers. Numerous paths to good  sound. 
Charles