Conrad Johnson ACT2 against Audio Research Ref 3

I haven't found that there is a "significant" difference in the Ref 3 in balanced v.s.
single ended mode. What Guidocorona said was that he had the wrong setting for the type of I.C. that he was using. You don't set it for S.E. and then use balanced cables or set it for balanced and then use single ended cables.

Agaffer, quite possibly. If I have the opportunity to test the X-01 to Ref 3 connection with one set of single ended Sky ICs and compare the result with the same balanced IC, I shall do so. Until such time, I will have to go with what my ears have told me this far.

"What Guidocorona said was that he had the wrong setting for the type of I.C. that he was using. You don't set it for S.E. and then use balanced cables or set it for balanced and then use single ended cables."

Guido as much as I am a believer in the Ref 3, Agaffer is right on and absolutely correct in his observation. There should be absolutely no difference in SE vs XLR balanced output on the Ref 3 other than approximately 6 Db of gain

Oneobgin, best thing is to try things out. You can likely perform some tests before I do. Please let us know your results.

Guido

I understand completely what you did with the remote. There is a button that determines SE vs balanced. Your demo was running balanced cables but you hit the SE button which reduced the gain in your system demo. I am not even certain because I haven't tried it with my Ref 3 (but I will) what happens if there are only balanced interconnects and not SE and you hit the SE button on the remote. At the very least you will suffer a 6 Db drop off, but maybe even worse because you had no SE cables.