balance and single ended what I heard

Thoughts...maybe you are using equipment with lousy balanced cicuits?...I don't see cables causing the woes to ones system are you describing. They are just wire you know:)...

steve

thanks for your responses, My equipment is a Mac C46 into a Mac 252, also have a Mac c2200,used a Monster balanced interconnect...using a Monster rca and analysis plus rca,also use a goldmund rca...using B&Wcm4, Linn Ninkas and Khorns...get the same results no matter what speakers. All I can tell you is what I hear, regarding the Naim cd comment, I spent extensive time with them, didn't hate them per se, just found I preferred a more relaxed sound of the Linn Ikemi vs the ultra dynamic of the Naim.

I like both tube and ss thats why I have both, tried it a few times over different days....same results, with the monster balanced the system goes kind of flat and loses the sparkle...its got me stumped.

follow up I slao have Mac mc275 1V...same result also,rcas sound much better, maybe the Monster balanced cable is just a bad sounding cable, dont know it is the only one I have tried....Also read many comments on this forum from people who haven't heard the gear or casually hear it in a store (with umpteen variables) and make comments....All my comments are from actually owning the gear or hearing it my house for a reasonable time...I have heard quite a bit of gear and found,forget price..you just have to listen.

Just because someone (MacIntosh) offers balanced inputs or outputs doesn't mean their gear really runs balanced. If they (I don't know this to be the case) are just adding another output into the path without the benefits of true balanced circuitry there would be no improvement.

I have heard a lot of equipment and I have found you rarely get what you paid for, and you never get more!

This just proves there are NO absolutes and most opinions---well, are just that.
Noise cancellation is one major benefit to being balanced and most improvements are in this area. To hear what you are hearing would lead me to believe that your equipment at some point is not truly balanced or some other overlooked factor in connections is skewing your results.
Balanced connections in and of themselves will not cause what you are hearing.
Balanced connections will not prove useful if one leg is grounded (as mentioned above.)
My thoughts would be to not conclude that all balanced systems behave as yours. This is certainly not the case. I use balanced equipment in the truest sense of the word and balanced connectors DO improve the performance.
A quick example of equipment with XLR's that is not balanced would be the Sony SCD-1 that a lot of folks like. It is a waste to use balanced connectors with it.
Another example is the Aesthetix Calypso preamp that actually converts single ended to balanced internally not visa versa if you happen to ignore their recommendation and/or have to use single ended.