Switched from RCA to XLR Interconnects - WOW
I also know that albertporter, a member who's got very high end set-up used to have 6 Meters long Purist Audio Dominus RCAs, don't remember from phono to preamp or from preamp to amp, and reported no noise at all, not to mention great sound and apparently no audible signal loss. Let's just be more serious and unbiased. |
Switching from RCA to XLR is only worththe extra time and money is if, you have a True differential balanced from input to output for each channel . Which is easy to tell ,you will see 4 transformers . If not then a waste of time ,for 1 you will loose better then 50% on your rca interconnects ,and still have to purchase XLR as good or better then the RCA interconnects. so make sure you have A True Balanced circuit ,Input to Output . many companies put xlr wired the same as the RCA just to have both for the buyer. I sold Audio for a number of years. True balanced 2 transformers per channel .remove the top and check,if not ,itis Not True balanced !! |
One more thing I forgot to mention ,potentially XLR is slghlylower in noise for the balanced signal lowers noise tothe 3rd wire groundhog = noise, and if it is True balanced with a transformer for input to output each channel the transformers will allow you to run longer runs. Again your preamp is potentially only slightly better with true balanced .which most preamp are Not. Therefore 80% of xlr connected preamps are not true balanced and not any better then a good RCA connection. |
Switching from RCA to XLR is only worththe extra time and money is if, you have a True differential balanced from input to output for each channel . While a lot of audiophiles believe what Audioman58 has stated above, I would respectfully but emphatically disagree. The benefits that a balanced interface can potentially provide, that have been referred to in this thread (i.e., reduced sensitivity to cable differences, better performance when long cable runs are necessary, reduced susceptibility to ground loop issues, lower noise, higher overall system gain), have no relation to whether or not the components have fully balanced or fully differential internal signal paths. They just require that: 1) The output circuit of the component providing the signal provides a balanced pair of signals. 2)The input circuit of the component receiving the signals receives those signals differentially, meaning that it responds to the difference in voltage between the two signals in the balanced pair. 3)The two circuits are **well designed.** As Ralph (Atmasphere) has stated in past threads, in addition to those circuits providing good sonics, ideally that means that the output impedance of the component providing the signals is low, and that the ground connection is ignored by the interface circuits of both components. And I would add that it also means that the shield of the balanced interconnect cable, that is connected to pin 1 of the XLR connectors, should be connected within each component to chassis and not to the component’s circuit ground. See the following writeup for further discussion of that: https://www.rane.com/note151.html If all of these criteria are not met, a balanced interface may still work better than an unbalanced interface, or it may not, depending on the specific designs. But again, that has nothing to do with whether or not the components have fully balanced or fully differential internal signal paths. Regards, -- Al |
