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Balanced or Unbalanced?

Hi-end should be about as few compromises as one's budget will allow.

It's a shame (or a conspiracy) that hi-end mags do not educate us on the basics, such as unbalanced circuit designs vs differentially balanced designs and XLR connectors/connections vs XLR connectors/connections and their relative impact on music playback. Why do I mention "conspiracy"? Magazines seem reluctant to bite the hand that feeds them- the majority of manufacturers are still in the dark ages selling unbalanced gear. Why? It seems you can't teach an old dog new tricks.

Hi-end roots are based in unbalanced designs. When the few differentially balanced designs (XLR) first appeared on the market, they were too expensive for most of us. Today, several manufacturers offer XLR designs that are competitively priced with unbalanced designs.

Think about it, sharing the L/R signal on circuit boards and through parts cannot be a good thing. Adding insult to injury is the RCA connector. A system is only as good as it's weakest link and this is the RCA connection. In response, several manufacturers have improved the RCA connector, but to what ultimate result? You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.

Reviewers (and I blame this on editors) typically allow balanced components to be reviewed within the confines of an unbalanced system. See The Absolute Sound August issue review of the Raysonic 168. Consequently, we are not informed on the components' ultimate sonic value.

If you are on a quest for best sound, begin to replace your RCA based components with differentially balanced. Most will accommodate RCAs or just buy RCA/XLR adapters until you fully transition.
tweak1
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Well, good points, BUT the value of balanced vs. unbalanced can vary widely from system to system and environment to environment. In an all-analog system, in a low RFI/EMI location with an integrated amp in a starter to mid-level system, the advantage might be pretty small.

OTOH, a system with Class D amplification in close proximity to a CDP with both chassis made out of folded steel, in a high RFI/EMI environment, the difference might be like night and day.

Because of the variability I think there's a reluctance to saying that balanced is the only way to go.

BTW, my system differentially balanced; however, when I used unbalanced interconnects between my CDP and integrated amp for a short while, the sound difference did NOT jump out at me. (I had the same brand of cable). Like I said, it's going to be more critical for some than others.

Dave
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
The biggest cheat is that so many units are for sale that do have 'balanced' inputs/outputs but are not truly balanced at all---they just add a bit of circuits to the system which defeats the purpose of so-called "balanced".

In this situation I stick with RCA as this is what the system was designed for.
dcstep
1,518 posts
 
Unclejeff said:

"In this situation I stick with RCA as this is what the system was designed for."

Well, there are plenty of "balanced" components that are truly balanced. When the total silence potential of a balanced combined with DC power is heard, then most of become believers. Many systems are NOT "designed for" unbalanced.

Dave
Post removed 
wireless200
415 posts
 
Yes, you have to know which are truly balanced and which are adding a differential circuit. And this works both ways. For example the Slim Device Tranporter adds a circuit for unbalanced. The native output right out of the DAC chip is balanced. So going with RCA requires and additional circuit.
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