What connection is better Balanced or single ended

bigwaves: there are literally HUNDREDS of archived threads on this topic available by searching on "balanced" using the audiogon search engine. there should be no need to invite more with your redundant query.

HEY AUDIGON, HOW ABOUT PUTTING UP A FAQ's LIST FOR THIS KIND OF STUFF OR AT LEAST ALERTING THOSE WHO WISH TO BEGIN OBVIOUSLY REDUNDANT THREADS OF THE EXISTENCE OF THE "SEARCH" FUNCTION.

-cfb

The above post is really quite friendly with lovely use of the cpas lock key. I have no problem with these recurring themes it allows for new input and exposes more people to useful information.
My opinion is that single ended is fine and less expensive.

Bigwaves meet Cornfedboy, Cornfedboy meet Bigwaves. There, now you've been properly introduced. Oh and Bigwaves welcome to the forums. There really is no such thing as a dumb question here but like CFB has pointed out there are many topics that have already been discussed at length. Subjects such as these can be found by doing a search into the archives. Just type in *balanced or single ended* I'm sure something will come up:~)

thanks for the introduction, glen. and, yes, welcome to the 'gon, bigwaves. BTW, i must respectfully disagree with you, glen. there are loads of dumb questions posed here, tho bigwave's isn't one of them. how could it be when it's been the subject of so many earlier discussions? -cfb

Hi, Bigwaves. You've already been alerted to the existence of much prior discussion on this subject which can found in the archives. To cut to the chase, however, the advantage offered by balanced interconnects is noise reduction, and slightly higher gain. This, however, is largely irrelevant in the average home audio setup. If all of your interconnects are less than 2 meters, it's unlikely that you will hear any discernable difference between balanced and unbalanced inputs (assuming both cables are of good quality). Balanced connections were developed mainly for use with long cable runs, such as may be found in recording studios, or the occasional home where someone has their equipment some distance from the speakers.

One other "advantage" of the balanced interconnect -- and this is brand specific -- is the use of shielded, low-noise microphone wiring. Of course, there are many unbalanced interconnects that offer similar construction, so you can still gain these "advantages" from some unbalanced cables.

Don't spend hours fretting over this technical issue -- it's one of the more irrelevant ones for the vast majority of home audio buffs.