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Does balanced interconnect sound beter than RCA?

I'm in the process of upgrading my system and looking at new/used integraged amps. The amps i am considering are the sim i-5, the plinius 8200 mk 2, perreaux 200ip and the classe cap151. Some have have both balanced and RCA connectors for the CD player and some don't. Can you hear the difference of the Balanced connection versus the RCA connection? It seems that their is a lot of very expensive equipment that does not have balanced connections which would seem to indicate that it doesn't necessarily need to be there. Is it worth getting an amp or cd player that can utilize balanced connections?
thanks,
jmillen
jmillen
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Buscis2...Lots of interesting ideas there, but I just don't think there is much relevance to home audio equipment.

Your reason #3, relating to power supply demand, does not (IMHO) have much relevance to low level (eg: preamp) circuits, where the power requirements are so small that a very modest capacitor will smooth things out. However, in a power amp there are very real benefits from running the two channels of a stereo amp out of phase. Since most of the stereo signal is common mode (mono) this evens out the draw on the plus and minus supplies. Of course, one speaker wire must be reversed to restore proper phasing at the speakers. Some amps meet their published rms power specs, both channels driven, when the drive is out of phase. This is usually in very small print, if at all.

A balanced line interconnection obviously makes it very easy to accomplish the required polarity inversion of one signal.
buscis2's avatar
buscis2
468 posts
 
El, The relevance of the provided excerpt was more in regards to an overall factual examination of balanced vs. unbalanced interconnection configurations.

I WILL NOT evaluate, recommend, or not recommend, (for other users) the implementation of balanced configuration for home audio use. I WILL try to help in providing said users what I consider to be useful, practical, unbiased (or as unbiased as possible), and hopefully factual information resources. Hopefully, this will allow the others to make more informed evaluations and ultimate decisions in a more intellegent and informed fashion.

Personally? I utilize full balanced configuration. From MY OWN personal evaluation, I feel there are three specific characteristics of balanced configuration that I personally feel are advantageous:

Lack/reduction of any significant impedance level mismatches between components, especially important (I feel), between transport/DA.

Isolating parasitic ground current and accumulated noise from the signal path, elevated RF/EM noise immunity.

I like XLR connectors as they provide a higher degree of protection from conductor exposure to eventually sonically degrading environmental elements.

There may or may not be other advantages/disadvantages re: balanced. But the aforementioned, are the reasons I find balanced superior. Other individuals may not.

I hope that others find this information relevant. Ed.

mitch2
4,314 posts
 
you have received some really good responses to your post. I would emphasize the importance of having components with fully balanced circuitry to receive the maximum benefit from balanced connectors. Most (or all) of the manufacturers of balanced design components recommend the use of balanced connectors. As Stenho points out, the implementation of a balanced design generally results in more expensive products. With the price competition they face, I doubt the manufacturers of upper end components would use balanced circuitry, if the benefits were negligible. I believe where most of the controversy comes into play is when people use balanced connectors with components that simply offer the convenience of a balanced input, without having a fully balanced design. In these cases, the effect may range from no difference to a degredation of sound due to additional circuitry required to accomodate the balanced inputs/outputs. My system is fully balanced from CD to Amp, and I am very happy with the sound using good balanced connectors. However, there are always exceptions. For example, Conrad Johnson uses all single ended designs and seem to believe the extra cost involved with balanced circuitry is superfluous for home audio.
psychicanimal
1,738 posts
 
"For example, Conrad Johnson uses all single ended designs and seem to believe the extra cost involved with balanced circuitry is superfluous for home audio."

What Dejan Veselinovic says makes a LOT of sense. Seems that with a filtered ground single ended connectors will outperform balanced in most instances. It is much cheaper to take care of the ground.
jmillen OP
2 posts
 
Thanks to all of you for the detailed responses. It appears that having the ability to use both types has value in that many factors may influence the ultimate performance of one versus the other in a given system.
Thanks,
jmillen
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