We haven't thought about it, but that's a great idea. I design all the chassis work in SolidWorks as it is, so I have a model of every component we use in our units. I'll have to look into it!

Going balanced was a big improvement for me.

GrubTheHedgehog... Welcome to AA! :wave:

Thank you kind sir. I have been lurking too long. I am looking forward to getting to know you all better.

My son (Autistic) is a jr at Penn College of Tech. He's in a manufacturing major, but will specialize in 3D printing. He is always on the one I got him making models. The materials they can spool now is just amazing. Even some PLC and ABS with carbon imbedded. There are other forms of 3D printing now that use metals and don't use spools at all, but that's not something you will do in house yet, lol.

The biggest thing is that in order to do it properly you need a very high Rez printer and they still aren't 'inexpensive". JMHO

Single Ended to Balanced Cables
 

I recently tried a balanced cable myself after using AX-5 and QX-5 with single ended for a few years. The reason iI stayed single ended is that going balanced would mean significant investment in upgrading my already very good single ended cable.



Immediately there was a about a 4.5 db or three AX-5 volume increment difference between the two cables, with the balanced being louder. However it was not just louder. I could not achieve the same result as the balanced bringing the single ended cable up to match. The balanced just sounded fuller. The bass was more palpable but the tonal balance did not change or darken. Instruments in the midrange, like guitars that were previously more buried in the mix became more easily discernible. There was more slam. There was more of everything. I got more stage depth, not so much widening. On live recordings, I felt like I was hearing the same performance but I got better seats! Music was just more in my room.



Female vocals became more focused and intense. Without loosing any detail (actually enhancing slightly) while loosing a little fatiguing edge



The single ended cable sounded a bit anemic in comparison, but still good. Balanced was a solid step in the right direction to be sure. It wasn’t earth shattering, but it was undeniably better in all respects.



It was one of those upgrades that makes you want to run through your whole catalog of music again to pick out the new details.

That the best part of listening for me. It's really rare to find something that makes something sound "twice as good", but those incremental bumps add up to something rather spectacular. Getting to discover your music all over again makes listening fun.

Use the same brand and model of interconnect (balanced and unbalanced) for a fair comparison. Generally balanced operation tends to be a bit quieter and have greater gain (inherent in the electronics design) which often translates to slightly better bass control and dynamics. I've also experienced a bit of improvement in midrange "body" using balanced connections vs. unbalanced with the same gear. This tends to make the highs a bit less strident too. These effects are subtle (usually) but can eek the last little bit of smoothness out of a system (sometimes).

I'm not sure these comparisons are entirely without bias. So you know, I own highly respected conrad-johnson equipment, all unbalanced. Not sure how you do these comparisons in an unbiased way. Comparing the outputs of well designed balanced equipment with it's own unbalanced outputs should show a better result from the primary balanced outputs. Seems to me that well designed single ended equipment works best with RCA cables, balanced equipment with balanced cables.

Not bias, per se. The question was what works best with Ayre Gear. You can’t draw any conclusions about other gear.