Looking for preamp which is good at BOTH single-ended AND balanced output

@ccheung  Just so you know, balanced and single-ended are incompatible. So there likely isn't a preamp good at both.

In single-ended circuits, the ground connection is part of the signal. In balanced circuits ground is ignored. The output of a balanced circuit **should** (if its supporting the balanced standard) not have any reference to ground; pin 2 is generated with respect to pin 3 and vice versa; neither signal is generated with respect to ground.

You can convert from one to the other using a line transformer. One of the benefits of balanced operation is no longer having to deal with interconnect cable artifact. You won't get that if the preamp does not support the balanced line standard.

My equipment is Audio Research. It supports both single ended and balanced. The designs are balance, ARC recommends using balanced. I have compared both… the difference is just plain minuscule. The differences between different component brands or models  far exceeds the difference between the outputs on the same ARC component.

My equipment is Audio Research. It supports both single ended and balanced. The designs are balance, ARC recommends using balanced.

Just for the record the ARC preamps do not support the balanced standard even though they are balanced.

@atmasphere ,

did you mean to really argue that balanced cables show no difference in sonic signature? That I believe would be a claim difficult to prove….

That I believe would be a claim difficult to prove….

@antigrunge2 
I did and actually its not. Most audiophiles have recordings, especially those made in the 1950s, that demonstrate that cables must not be as heavily colored as the high end cable industry likes to make them seem. Quite literally the balanced line standard is a technology that minimizes cable colorations, and that in turn is why you can run those cable for such long distances without a coloration, although the benefit is there even if the cable is only 6".


These recordings (RCA Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence, EMI, Decca UK...) feature microphones placed quite a distance from the recorder, yet somehow (using long balanced line connections) the overall sound is clear and detailed- the better your system gets, the better these recordings sound.