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Re: Single Vs. Balanced, Please help me understand

Posted by Thorsten (M) on September 15, 2003 at 08:23:39

In Reply to: Single Vs. Balanced, Please help me understand posted by Dre J on September 15, 2003 at 07:32:34:

Hi,

> Single Vs. Balanced What are the true differences?

The way the signal is transmitted.

In a true balanced connection the signal travels through two signal conductors with opposing polaity and has a seperate ground connection.

In a single ended connection there is a signal conductor but the signal return and ground are shared.

> Is it typical for balanced outputs to have double the voltage
> of single ended outputs? (Like CD players)

Not if they implement true balanced connections. These should allow the signal to be terminated either balanced or unbalanced with no change in level. In HiFi gear it is however common to implement interconnections best described as "dual-out-of-phase-single-ended" compared to "balanced" (yes, there are fundamental differences).

> Is this part of the reason some feel they sound better?
> (improved S/N ratio?)

No.

> If not why?

Impedance levels plus the rejection of external fields and the seperation between signal and ground/earth loops.

BTW, Balanced does not invariably sound better.

> Where is the best place for the transition to occur if at all?

If the equipement is designed with a true balanced interconnection it matters not. If it does not offer a true balanced connection consider using single ended interconnections.

> Is the true benefit from balanced amps in the differential drive
> lines to the speakers?

No, it has more to do with the Powersupply loading.

> If one uses a single ended front-end and has a single ended
> preamp would it be best to use a single ended designed amp
> instead of a balanced amp to avoid a conversion? Please explain.

This depends entierly on the Amplifiers design. If the Amplifier has a true balanced input you can use balanced and single ended sources as you wish with no problems.

Some Amplifiers add further electronics into the signal path to achieve a balanced input then converted to a single ended input to the actual amplifier. In some cases these added components can improve the sound (especially if high quality transformers are used as they limit bandwidth and provide insulation from all sorts of noises) in other they can degrade it.

So the answer is to experiment.

Ciao T

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