I'm Getting Unbalanced About Balanced

It all depends on which components you have.
Some components are fully balanced, while others are not.
Some components sound better using single ended RCAs while some components sound better with XLR balanced.
It is all very component (and sometimes system) specific.

You need to read the manufacturers literature to see if a component is truly balanced.

You are not necessarily wasting your money by going with RCSs. Some components do sound better run with single ended RCSs.

KF

What are your components?

If you are unsure if a component is truly balanced or not go to the source, ask the manufacturer if it is balanced or merely accepts XLR inputs. Either way it will make a difference with different cables be it single ended(rca) or balanced- best thing is to try a few in your system and find what you like best- and that's simple now with so many companies offering in home trial, just let the cable settle in your system and burn in for a few days of constant play before you judge it.

Some components are balanced from input to output and some are not.....and it may make no difference. It depends more on the company that made it and how well they executed the design. For example:

Krell's KRC-HR may be one of the best preamps ever made, and many people feel it even betters the new KCT. The KCT is balanced from input to output while the KRC-HR is not. Also, as with all, or at least most, of the Krell products, the KRC-HR sounds much better when running balanced.

ALSO, I have been very curious about the people on this web site that say the Sony SCD-1 sounds better running single ended. If that is true, I would not see it's full potential in my all Krell system. This is one of the reasons that I haven't purchased it....yet.
Comments appreciated.

Richard

Some times using balanced cables in a system that isn't truly balanced can be benefitial (very long runs and/or in nasty environments). Other times the conversion from single to balanced and/or visa-versa just adds another stage of potential compromise. Theorticaly the best situation should be a complete truly balanced system. How critical this is, is dabateble.