Balanced- Yes or No?

[Levitator]

Originally Posted by vintage_tube

V-1 is called a splitter/inverter. It takes the L & R single ended inputs and first splits each of them into two and then takes one of each pair and reverses the polarity. The result is you end up with Left & Right balanced signals that look like they came out of an XLR.



So, using balanced cabling bypasses V1.



V2 & V5 (also 12AX7's) take the balanced Left & Right signals from V1 & multiply or amplify the voltage several times. These are the most important tubes in a MC275.



Best Sir,



Bob

Great response Bob - can't say I knew this...

[AudioGremlin]

I use a 22 foot pair of unbalanced Wireworld Silver Eclipse interconnect (that runs under the floor. Absolutely no noise issues, sounds wonderful. Certainly a tribute to the excellent Wireworld's technology.

[W9TR]

There have been some great posts in this thread. The answer seems to be “it depends”.

One thing I’d like to add - when you use unbalanced cables the signal ground is the shield ground and also can be the chassis ground. This can lead to small currents running in the shield, which in turn can cause hum. That doesn’t happen in a well designed balanced system. I also like XLR connectors better than the RCA connectors.

But in the end if the runs are short you should try both single ended and balanced connections and see which one sounds best.

Tom

[Timobi]

I've never encountered the 'thin' sounding XLR connection reported here though. In fact I find it fuller sounding BUT that has more to do with the differing cable brand. But in the past using same cables never experienced a thin sounding XLR.

I personally think both sound GREAT. But sure do love the grip and "lock" of XLR

[vintage_tube]

Originally Posted by Timobi

I've never encountered the 'thin' sounding XLR connection reported here though. In fact I find it fuller sounding BUT that has more to do with the differing cable brand. But in the past using same cables never experienced a thin sounding XLR.

I personally think both sound GREAT. But sure do love the grip and "lock" of XLR

Tim

---- I've never experienced a thin sounding XLR but it could be the cable brand someone was using.

A big DEFINITELY on your latter point.

Best Sir,

Bob

[Charles]

I personally think both sound GREAT. But sure do love the grip and "lock" of XLR
Tim

However, many quality single ended IC's have a "lock" don't know the technical term for it but it ensures you have an absolutely tight single connection. As long as you have no noise in my opinion single ended is the way to go although with the exception of my tuner I run balanced with all my connections.

[vintage_tube]

Originally Posted by Charles

However, many quality single ended IC's have a "lock" don't know the technical term for it but it ensures you have an absolutely tight single connection. As long as you have no noise in my opinion single ended is the way to go although with the exception of my tuner I run balanced with all my connections.

Charles --You must be referring to something like a WBT Single Ended connector -- where the clamping mechanism or sleeve portion, which works in the same way as the chuck device in a drill, firmly clamps the outer contact against the RCA socket.



Best Sir,

Bob

[Charles]

Yep. I think single ended is the way to go unless you have hum or unless you are fully internally balanced and dual mono from beginning to end as I am.

[henryeng]

There is absolutely NO advantage of using balanced interface between components, unless they are hundreds of feet apart and / or are on different AC power circuits.

[med_designer]

I have a C47 (unbalanced) feeding a MC152 (truly balanced not just connector) and have no issues with sound quality at all. While not 100% certain I think at some point after the unbalanced signal enters the MC152, it will covert the unbalanced signal to a balanced internally.

Now if I had purchased the D1100 which is also truly balanced then there may have been a benefit to use the balanced connections, no conversion stage to balanced from unbalanced, but again for the short run I am using most likely no decreeable benefit.

I would stick with the single ended connections and be happy.