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Is balanced necessarily better?

Assuming fully balanced equipment that also offers single ended connections, and no RFI problems, is the use of balanced interconnects necessarily the better way to go? My forum search indicates some who say balanced is better because the connectors are inherently better and because of noise cancelling properties associated with the signal flowing in both directions; and others who say for reasonably short runs and no interference problems that rca/single-ended connections sound better in many cases, maybe because the signal has less circuitry to traverse. This has come up for me because I am considering different preamp alternatives, and if I decide not to stay with a fully balanced system, I have more choices. To give things a try I substituted some old AudioTruth rca cables for my Luminous Sychestra Sig balanced cables. Except for the 6db loss in output, I have initially found the rca cables to sound a little smoother, with more rounded images, a little plumper bass, and what initially sounds like a more "musical" presentation. The system is a Muse Model 10 source/Muse Model 3 Sig pre/McCormack DNA 500/Aerial 9's. BTW, Steve McCormack told me the DNA 500 sees the signal the same way whether balanced or single-ended, and didn't seem to think the amp would sound significantly different either way. Therefore, even though many manufacturers are now offering more balanced equipment, especially at the upper end, others such as CJ continue to make only single-ended equipment. What are do you guys think, is balanced necessarily better?
mitch2
serus
93 posts
 
It all depends on the circuits on both ends and the quality of interconnects. Many assume that balanced interconnects bearing a certain "name" will perform the same or better than their single-ended counterparts from the same manufacturer and bearing the same name. All I can say is that they are sharing perhaps materials and design concepts, but electrically the two interconnects are very different. It is not a given that the balanced cables are superior!
Now to the circuits, and the easiest way to demonstrate the incoclusiveness of any such recommendation is by way of a real-life example... The equipment on hand was a $15K Spectral preamp and about the same cost of a dCS DAC. Both units were capable of single-ended or balanced connections (they are fully balanced internally) and both can also invert phase, a fact which will play a role in this story... Have patience...
As it turned out, and that was very consistent, the single-ended interconnects produced the best sound with both units in a non-inverting phase mode. This was odd, so we tried inverting phase on both. Low and behold - now the balanced connection was superior.
The only sane explanation is that the inverting and non-inverting modes in one or both units have enough circuit differences to cause such an anomaly.
This ambiguity took place between a $30K worth of hardware, if that little detail escaped any of you that are still reading... Go figure!
mitch2 OP
4,084 posts
 
Thanks guys, this is the type of interesting discussion from experienced folks I was hoping this thread would generate. I am in the process of moving equipment around which prompted getting some 3m ics so I can shorten speaker cable runs. I am going to try some sonoran single-ended ics, which Robert at Star Sound assures me will not have RF of EMI problems. I am still considering different equipment, which may include a single ended preamp, so I was encouraged with how good the single ended connections sounded on my Muse front end, since the flexibility of not going balanced opens up more preamp possibilities. From what I have researched and heard so far, balanced connectors have their roots in pro audio and are not necessarily better for home audio, and my listening so far has shown that to be true in some ways.
bigtee
803 posts
 
My thoughts are if the equipment is truly balanced and allows for a truly balanced connection, run it that way. Why do you want to go through a process of changing it to SE? It's like going from SE to balanced, why go through the added splitter or whatever to get it when it really want sound a bit better, if as good? My point is, keep things simple.
My Calypso preamp takes anything single ended and converts it to balanced internally. Therefore, why would I not want to run balanced interconnects so it wasn't required to do that.
I definitely think there's more to the picture than noise. The up or down conversion is an issue also. I trust manufacturers like Ayre, Theta, Aesthetix and others who say balanced is better with their equipment. I know they have done their homework.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Bigtee -- perfectly put!
ratsb0dd
41 posts
 
Are you sure we are not misconstruing balanced input/outputs and complemetry topology? The magic of cancelling noise that is picked up in balanced interconnects occurs in the balanced input stage that converts the balanced signal to a single ended one.

From that point on the amplifier can be of complementry design.

steve
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