Balanced XLR vs RCA for phono stage

I just have to comment on the article’s introduction: “…continual and perpetual difficulty of hooking up audio equipment without suffering through all sorts of bizarre noises, hums, buzzes, whistles, etc….”.

In forty years of using single ended interconnects I have never experienced any of these symptoms, ever. I tested dozens of interconnects and components over that time.

I’m not refuting the paper. I’m just saying it is overstating the problem.

I went through a major upgrade a few years ago and did an A/B comparison on my audio equipment and found virtually no sonic benefit, but the cost was 2x to go to XLR. So for me that was $5K —> $10K. I had to think long and hard about spending $5K for no sonic improvement. In the end, I went ahead and did it. It gives me peace of mind, and XLR are becoming much more common… and I can afford it. if I was younger and was stretching to get the very best components I could afford… I would have just stuck with RCA… and upgraded when I could afford it.

@ghdprentice the reference was pro audio, long run mic cables etc.

Thanks. Then a completely different application and not relevant.

Keep it simple:

Ultra-low capacitance but shielded RCA terminated cables, the shorter, the better - never longer than one meter. And an external chassis ground cable, as heavy as practical for minimal resistance at the ground plane.
Anything else would be wasteful and unnecessary, and most likely, inferior.

Marc Stager
Stager Silver Solids Pure Silver High-End Audio Cables