Benchmark to amp direct question?

Hi Saki
Well certainly the impedence of the balanced outputs match my amp's input. Actually with the Benchmark, its a simple case of turning the attenuator pots down to use the RCA outs, but then you won't be able to enjoy the superior sound the balanced outputs produce.

My point was not so much that XLR cables are better than RCA, rather that the Benchmark's XLR outputs are far superior to the RCA outputs, so if those of you still using the RCA outputs, I would suggest you try the XLR connections on the Benchmark. Some of the common criticisms of the Benchmark - titzy highs, lean sound, are completely gone! You'll wonder why you never tried it in the first place.

I'm really enjoying the music, thank you.

PS: WARNING TO REMEMBER TO SWITCH THE TOGGLE SWITCH AT THE BACK TO "VARIABLE" OR YOU MIGHT RISK BLOWING YOUR AMP/SPEAKERS.

Bob_reynolds - this high RCA output impedance is only in the older versions, more than three years old. The new cisrcuit board has new buffers and does the voltage divider between buffers rather than at the output pins. The new RCA output impedance is 30 ohms, a bit too low IMO.

Steve N.

Steve
I'm not technically inclined, just a bit of tech knowledge, so I can't tell what's really balanced or not, but I do know this, the Benchmark's XLR outputs are a quantum leap over the RCA. Something which 2 others I know have heard, and confirm the same findings.

Since you obviously know more about the internals of the Benchmark, maybe you could shed some light on why there's so much difference between the two?