[Karnaaj]

Could somebody here give me the rundown on balanced connectors?  I have no idea what they do but it seems that most of the pre's and amps I am looking at have them.  TIA

[Tonto Yoder]

A similar question was asked earlier:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=8355&highlight=stereophile+balanced

We all agreed balanced connection is much better!!
You're right that much good gear offers balanced connectors---whether that's truly a sonic benefit or just the fashion of the day is hard to say.

[zybar]

I have been told that it matters how the balanced setup is done and not whether you have balcned connectors.

For example, my amps (Rowland 201's), preamp (Elctrocompaniet EC 4.7) and dac (Electrocompaniet ECD-1) are fully differential and designed to sound best when used in a balanced config.

Check with the various vendors and see what they say.  

George

[Sa-dono]

I agree it all depends on implementation in the components.

I have been told that it matters how the balanced setup is done and not whether you have balcned connectors.

For example, my amps (Rowland 201's), preamp (Elctrocompaniet EC 4.7) and dac (Electrocompaniet ECD-1) are fully differential and designed to sound best when used in a balanced config.

Check with the various vendors and see what they say.  

George

So you went with the Electrocompaniet over the Bent, George? I guess that means you found an active preamp more to your liking. Have you heard the Electrocompaniet amps yet? I heard they are extremely musical. Should make for an interesting comparison to your Rowlands.

[zybar]

Not over the Bent, but at least until I can get a Bent.  

With John's tragedy + his supply problem, things have been delayed for quite a few months.

George

[michael w]

A similar question was asked earlier:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=8355&highlight=stereophile+balanced

We all agreed balanced connection is much better!!

"We" did ?

 

IMHO in a well designed system balanced connection offers no advantages other than wank value and does nothing more than add complication and cost.

 

[PhilNYC]

IMHO in a well designed system balanced connection offers no advantages other than wank value and does nothing more than add complication and cost.

 

Do you think this even if all the components are of balanced design?  If so, why?

[Val]

The only advantage of balanced input/outputs is that they allow using very long runs of interconnects, that's why pro audio use balanced configurations. There are two ways of implementing it, via a transformer and via a fully differential amplifier design. Due to the limitations of transformers, I believe most experts agree that the second way is better.

Val

[JohnR]

Sometimes the "balanced" connections on gear are fakes, so watch out for that.

Morgan Jones, in his book Valve Amplifiers (or something like that, great book), preferred using balanced circuits from the phono cartridge all the way to the power amp (push-pull). In the latest edition of his book he gave up when he realized the complexity of doing a fully balanced active crossover in tubes...

[Dan Banquer]

If you go to this thread: http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=8780 than you will realize that one can use unbalanced for consumer use. Driving long cables is also not a problem for well designed solid state, if idiots like me can do it, than it shouldn't be a problem.
             d.b.

[VeraStarr]

Usually balanced connectors are used for balanced (fully differential) amplifiers. When they are used on single ended designs, many people call them "fake". What happens is that inside the amp, the signal is converted to single ended before going through the amp. Sometimes, depending on the opamp used inside for the conversion, the balanced inputs will give you a gain of 3 to 6 db. This way, essentially you get two sonic signatures from the amp. Other amps are single ended until bridged, then they become fully differential. I recommend trying both connectors and hearing what you like better...
Cheers!

[VeraStarr]

how did this happen??

[Robert C. Schult]

Hi Karnaaj.

Analog Audio Interconnects fall into, shall we say two camps; 1.) Single ended (RCA Connectors) and 2.) Balanced (XLR connectors).

The music wave form is just that...a wave form also referred to as Alternating Current or AC. All our reproduced music is AC (not Air Conditioning).

An illustration can be drawn like this: Imagine a straight line with a wave drawn that rides above, we'll call that +, and below, we'll call that -, the straight line. If you got the picture, that's a simple AC wave form.

Single Ended cables carry both the + and - parts of the wave along a single signal conductor(s) path and then there's the ground or return path.

Balanced cables incorporate two signal carrying conductors; one for the + going half of the wave form and one for the - going half of the wave form and then, again, there's a ground or return path.

One benefit of Balanced cables is that common (non-music) noise that rides on both the + and - halves of the wave are cancelled out because they are 180 degrees out of phase with each other. A downside for gear requiring balanced cables is that, if done fully balanced (differential), it requires twice as much circuitry.

One benefit Single Ended cables offer is it's simplicity...much like the sound of a well designed single ended tube or transistor amp is capable of producing. A downside of single ended cables is that a well designed single ended cable will not hide the noise that resides in less well engineered gear.

Other issues are relevant for either or but perhaps this is a good simple primer.  

Hope this helps a bit.