Balanced in phono stages preamp?

Many CD players pull this trick by adding a chip at the output, which not only is a phony way to do it but also will likely degrade the sound a bit compared to the SE outputs on the same piece of gear

I agree, but would like to point out that since the data on the CD is single ended, any CD player with a balanced output has to "create" the inverted signal in some manner. Some use more DACs, some use inverters after the DAC, but in every case there is no such thing as a balanced CD player from front to back since the data on the disc isn't balanced.

-And since phono cartridges are balanced, it is actually surprising that balanced phono sections did not appear sooner! When we built the first one in 1989, we thought that someone had done it before us, as it seemed the logical thing to do. But apparently the idea of balanced lines was/is foreign to high end audio, which is a shame because they have been so successful for over 50 years in the recording industry.

Balanced lines were created with the intent of eliminating cable problems and differences but the high end community has preferred to throw money at single-ended cables instead. While the techniques has proven successful, it has hardly been economical :)

Balanced operation also gives you lower noise both in the cable and in the circuitry. A differential amplifier, one of the basic building blocks of a balanced phono circuit, has *6db* less noise than its equivalent single-ended circuit! In practice you get a little less than that, but over successive stages of gain this means a lot- 10 db less noise for example in only 2 stages of gain. This allows for greater simplicity (less stages of gain) which translates to being closer to the music.

Atmasphere - I never understood why it is said that phono cartridges are balanced, given that they are a two wire device. For the particular connection between two wire cart and pre amp ,i.e. signal still single ended until split into balanced at the pre, there shouldn't be any advantage in common mode rejection. Once the split is made (downstream of the input connection at the pre amp) I understand your point.
N803nut - If I understand the circuit you have described correctly, it is electrically the same as an unbalanced connection except that you are using two wires in parellel on the grounded side of the unbalanced connection.

Jeff_jones, you are correct. The signal encoded on the vinyl disc is also single ended.

Balanced is hype. Long (and I mean really long) signal runs can benefit from balanced but not typical home setups.

ALL sources are single ended.

All speakers are single ended.

Your ears are single ended.

All sound is single ended. There are no balanced instruments or sounds.

Herman, I think I agree with you :^).

I have some balanced stuff and run it with balanced cable because I think it's a little bit better that way.

But who knows, perhaps if it had been designed from day one as single ended it would sound better than it does now in balanced.

Interesting comments for sure.