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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
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
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 
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
The same old discussions continue because preferences become the basis for a position rather than facts. I see preferences being expressed again here although there are several great posts that do stick to the facts.

The facts are clear - fully balanced XLR is better especially for longer cable runs and especially to help avoid ground loops. There is no way around it - these are the facts.

Fact - a black car will get hotter in the sun than a white car.
Preference - I only buy black cars because I think this colour looks best.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57 OP
5,417 posts
 
@herman , I appreciate you participating in the discussion, but in viewing the archive threads I did not find an answer to my original question. I wanted to find the reason a manufacturer designs a SE component and why in today’s HiFi environment (which includes many fully-balanced components), does not offer a balanced option 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.

I appreciate everybody’s comments and learned that I should have planned out my system more carefully. In my case, I have a balanced source and amp, but my preamp is SE. My next purchase will be a new amp and learned that maybe I should go for SE tubes, rather than one of the many fully-balanced amps that are available.
There has been evidence provided that staying single-ended may be the best direction for me.

mac48025's avatar
mac48025
672 posts
 
I'm with you lowrider57, I'm leaning towards single ended amps with high efficiency speakers like Herman, Charles and many others have. To me there's something magical about that sound. I've heard great sound from all different systems from tubes and SS, single ended and balanced, high or low efficiency speakers, analog and digital......there's a flavor for every taste. Ain't it great? 
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
Good to see you back here, Herman.

Not sure that I agree with you, though, regarding:
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.
It is true, of course, that when a cartridge is not connected to anything its output is "floating" with respect to whatever ground reference one may choose to define. However if the two output lines of the cartridge are connected to a properly balanced input of a phono stage, both the impedances and the signal amplitudes of its two lines will be balanced with respect to the ground of that phono stage. In other words, the nature of a cartridge is such that connection of its output lines to a balanced input causes its output to become balanced.

The same goes for a speaker, when connected to a power amp having balanced outputs.

Compressions and refractions (I think that should be "rarefactions") that occur in the air as acoustic waves propagate are a different and unrelated matter, as I see it.

Regards,
-- Al

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