perazzi28
A phono cartridge is an inherently balanced source. If you feed it to a truly balanced (differential) phono preamplifier, you'll add gain where you need it most, and reject noise and interference where you need to most. And you'll avoid having the cable influence the signal. Again, that's where you need it most.
To state that " balanced operation in this scenario will only add more circuitry with no real benefit" is absurd. Yes, differential amplifiers add more circuitry - but there are multiple real, measurable benefits - especially when a turntable is the source.
Home audio, especially 2 channel systems with analog being the primary source will rarely benefit from balanced connections. Adding balanced operation in this scenario will only add more circuitry with no real benefit and likely have deleterious effects. One should attempt to have a full-featured preamplifier that includes a well designed phono stage. This approach has significant advantages. The installation is much simpler, the cabling requirements are simpler as this approach has a concentrated purpose. Avoiding ground loops is generally not a problem with this approach and cable lengths can be kept to a very reasonable length. Plus the number of cables is minimized ...It's rather vague to state "analog being the primary source" in your premise. If you're referring to LP, I think you couldn't be more mistaken.
A phono cartridge is an inherently balanced source. If you feed it to a truly balanced (differential) phono preamplifier, you'll add gain where you need it most, and reject noise and interference where you need to most. And you'll avoid having the cable influence the signal. Again, that's where you need it most.
To state that " balanced operation in this scenario will only add more circuitry with no real benefit" is absurd. Yes, differential amplifiers add more circuitry - but there are multiple real, measurable benefits - especially when a turntable is the source.