Are Expensive Balanced Interconnects Necessary?

vonhelmholtz

Another +vote for "yes".

Happy Listening!

I’ll give you a specific example from my system. Starting with Turnable, I only have RCA inputs on my Audio Research Ref 3SE phono stage so I have a high quality phono cable (AMG Reference) with RCAs from TT to phono preamp. I have read that the cartridge is fully balanced so using an RCA connection to a fully balanced phono  preamp retains a balanced signal. I don’t understand this but I’ll take it at face value. I originally had high quality RCA interconnects (Hovland) from phono preamp to preamp. Sound was fine. I read in the Audio Resesrch manual that they recommend balanced cables for best performance so I tried a lower end audioquest xlr cable  I had and I perceived an modest improvement. I then bought a new set of Cardas Clear interconnects to try and they also provided another modest improvement. So in my case more expensive XLR did show an improvement.  My preamp is a. Bricasti M12 and it is also supposed to be fully balanced. Preamp connects to active ATC speakers so connection from preamp to amp is also XLR and so presumably fully balanced from TT to amp. Keep in mind I thoroughly enjoyed my system with original configuration. The benefits I heard are real but modest. I think budget should inform how far along you want to take this knowing that you will enjoy what you have along the way.

I have two pairs of balanced cables.  One pair was pretty expensive.  Actually now that I think about it was real expensive.  It definitely sounds better than the other cheaper one.  That is until I switch positions of the cables.  Then it doesn't sound better.  I keep switching the cables to try to figure out whats going on. But I haven't been able to.  Now, I've switched the cables so many times I can't remember which cable is the expensive one.  Can anyone help?  I'm to the point that I'm so frustrated I'm thinking of selling both of them and starting over.  This would be a real shame because one of the cables was pretty expensive.

@marco1 - I appreciate your subtlety.🤗

On a more serious note, using a Cardas Clear XLR vs.  Mogomi XLR from my Atma-sphere pre to my Atma amp both of which meet the AES48 standard, I hear NO difference.   When using the same cables from my Denafrips DAC (don't know if Denafripts meets AES 48 but it is "balanced") I do hear a difference and improvememt.  More weight and transparency. So for me at least, the answer is it depends.  Sorry couldn't resist before :-)