[mcullinan]

Which is not better in my system. Spent 99 bucks..., Gave them time for burn in... I also went from unbalanced to balanced input. My system now sounds forward and generally not natural. Previously I was noting how remarkabley natural my system was sounding, with the BlueJean unbalanced ICs.

Questionand/or suggestions... Should I just go back to unbalanced operation with the BJ cables, or is there another budget balanced IC I can go with that might fix my issues. Audio issues.. btw not mental.. hehe

Update: Could the problem lie in the fact that I am only usin the balanced input on  the pre and I go back to unbalanced operation for output to my amp?

Thanks in advance.
Mike


Supratek SauvignonNuforce 9 SE V2, Merlin Music VSM-MX, Lavry DA-10 DAC, Velodyne HGS-12 Sub, Squeezebox 3.0, BlueJean Cable interconnects, Zu Wax Speaker Wire, Signal Cable Magic PC and a crappy Phillips DVD/CD player.

[Toka]

Can't say anything about the balanced cables you have, but I've found that unless you absolutely NEED to go (fully) balanced, its better not to. YMMV. I have the BJ IC's, though, and have no desire to go to anything else.

[mca]

I have heard the Silver Serpent IC and also found it to have a forward, edgy sound.

I am using MAC Palladium Sound Pipes right now with excellent results (And paid much less than the price shown on the website)

A couple other IC's you may want to consider are Reality Cables, Audio Art Cables or Zu Gede IC's (Check Ebay)

[dcktr]

re: cables, if you are going from balanced pre to unbalanced amp then you are not gaining anything vs. just RCA on each side. Another way to go if you want to use your original BJ cables, just get a rca/XLR adapter. I also found the silver serpent to be too bright in my system. Got to admit I am a copper man all the way. I have tried the blue jeans rca and I found them to be an excellent value.

[warnerwh]

The bottom line is that unbalanced is absolutely fine. If your runs are 25' or longer then balanced is a good idea to keep possible noise down. Save your money!

[NewBuyer]

Slightly different opinion: While everything is system-specific, I have yet to ever find an application (even with short runs) where running balanced did not yield a worthwhile improvement. Best to run balanced all the way to amp if possible, IMO. Does your preamp have balanced outs, or use isolating line-output transformers? If not, you can use a Jensen Transformers product if needed. Also, nothing wrong with Blue Jeans balanced IC's. Obviously also make sure all equipment shares a common AC ground...