XLR waste of time ?

JJ25,

Keep us posted with what you learn. However, you do realize that your experement does not isolate your cable design as the only variable (which means your test will prove nothing). If you don't understand why, either you have not read the above posts, or you do not comprehend the above posts.

There are no absolutes, and I am 100% certain of this fact.

nrenter---My thought was to do the comparison between the preamp outputs and the amplifiers in the system. Obviously it couldn't be done in a simple and direct way on the front end. As it happens atmasphere's preamp has only XLR outputs. I don't suppose using the RCA tape outputs would make for an appropriate comparison?

But let's suppose, as you suggest, that an appropriate comparison can't be done. Doesn't the position that balanced lines and XLRs are better just remain, as I suggest, an article of faith?

shadorne: There are all sorts of reasons to use balanced lines in a pro audio setting: Long cable distances, greater potential for signal pollution, etc. None of which exists in the typical home audio set-up. Which suggests that experimentation, rather than philosophy, could be a better way to answer the question.

From a rhetorical perspective, the dismissive attitude of so many of the posters here is remarkably similar to religious belief, or to beliefs about global climate change. It's an interesting question to try to figure out the psychological causes of such beliefs, but the beliefs themselves are merely that.

Your response indicates you don't fully understand your test - and that's why your results will be meaningless.

A great audio system is not a collection of optimized independent variables, but a collection of optimized dependent variables. That's what you're missing. The RCA vs. XLR debate is meaningless because the cable "performance" is dependent on the the circuit driving (and being driven by) the signal transmitted by the cable. Single-ended and balanced topologies are very different, and a balanced cable has less effect on a balanced circuit than a single-ended cable on a single-ended circuit. It isn't religion - it's physics and circuit theory (plus, some of us not only have EE degrees, but have spent time in recording studios, and designing audio equipment).

Are you suggesting that your question is novel and no "experement" has ever been tried?

If you have a collection of "optimized" independent variables that perform admirablably, then good for you.

I used to "believe" that balanced cables were better because my electronics were balanced. Then a fellow Audiogoner suggested I try the single-ended output on my phono amp. It was clearly superior in my system. I contacted the manufacturer, and he said that he listens to his phono's RCA output and uses XLR everywhere else in his chain. In his phono amp, the single-ended circuit is simpler and sounds better. I still use 6M balanced cables from my pre to my mono blocks because of the long distance. I agree with those who suggest listening first (experimenting) to find the best results in one's own system.

Nrenter, you got it exactly right. That is why I am careful to stress 'properly set up' and 'low impedance' as those things are critical to getting the performance out of cables in general and balanced lines in particular.

Preamps with RCAs tend to have high output impedances which make them susceptible to differences in cable construction.

Most of the high end audio does not recognize this simple fact, because most manufacturers are doing balanced because it is something trendy, rather than researching exactly what the benefits are are and in particular **how to win those benefits**.

So as a result we have a lot of variable results that make the whole thing confusing.

In the case of LOMC, since the cartridges are an inherently balanced low impedance source, and should be loaded by a low resistance for best results, balanced is a sort of no-brainer. A great deal depends on the input of the phono section; if not differential forget it, and a great deal depends on the tone arm wiring- if the ground is independent of the signal wiring (which in most arms it is, the exception being straight-tracking air-bearing arms), then there are no worries.