Darren69 Posted August 14, 2013 Posted August 14, 2013 I have noticed all CDP's have RCA outputs but not necess celery XLR's. Please enlighten.
betty boop Posted August 14, 2013 Posted August 14, 2013 (edited) Not all have xlrs yes. Because not all are ballenced designs Some are fake balanced as well ie just use Xlr connectivity. Ie not getting any benefits of balanced. The whole topic on need of balanced in domestic scenario is questionable anyways. Yes sure long runs in a studio or concert setup where cable nests with lot of rf an em about but in typical domestic setup with short runs not really necessary in my opinion. I have run rcas over 8m no issue at all and this is in a combined 2ch/ht rig. People some times get tricked by the higher signal level of balanced and go..gee sounds better... When all they'd need to do is turn vol down to same level. Also need to keep in mind gear needs to be truly fully balanced designs all the way through source to pre to power for any benefit. There's not a lot of true balanced gear around ! Plus the issues with different implementations of balanced can also create other issues eg hum and earthing etc In my opinion don't restrict your choice to only gear with Xlr connectivity or might by default remove from your choice a whole lot of other lovely players ! Edited August 14, 2013 by :) al
Guest myrantz Posted August 14, 2013 Posted August 14, 2013 (edited) Agreed with what Al said.. Just like to add some points: I use XLR for practical reasons, not audible. Mainly coz I hate locking RCA connectors.. Some RCA connectors can't even hold the weight of the cables itself and will strain. Some RCA inputs are bunched so closely together it's really PITA to switch cables.. When you click in the XLR, it just feels satisfying... It is a solid click. And there's always enough space because the connectors are huge.. XLR will make a very solid connection with no strain. And for me it's easier to connect a XLR cable without looking. Balanced connections shouldn't introduce hum in theory. Balanced also should have a lower noise floor in theory. Two things you should be aware of 1/ there are two types of balanced - 2 hot or 3 hot. So if you mix and match gear your speakers may go out of phase (CD players usually allow you to invert phase). 2/ If the equipment is not fully balanced (double up in parts, 1 for -ve, and the other for +ve), most likely they have a transformer thingy to convert a balanced signal into a single ended one somewhere. IME this almost always roll off the bottom and top end. If you have a lot of fake balanced gear this rolling off will add up. In theory fully balanced setup will just give you better SNR - but in reality it's something one will never really fully make use of anyway IMO (but YMMV). But for myself it's a good price to pay to get that solid click feel though .. A good connection feels so good Edited August 14, 2013 by myrantz 1
Darren69 Posted August 14, 2013 Author Posted August 14, 2013 (edited) Thanks Rantz, I understood and agree with the bits of your post about ease of use, robustness of fittings, space designed in around the fittings etc. Also, I don't imagine the Parasound P3-A21 combo would have fake balancing...then again, the rest of your post was absolute Greek to me so how would I know? Haha!! Edited August 14, 2013 by Darren69
Guest myrantz Posted August 14, 2013 Posted August 14, 2013 Thanks Rantz, I understood and agree with the bits of your post about ease of use, robustness of fittings, space designed in around the fittings etc. Also, I don't imagine the Parasound P3-A21 combo would have fake balancing...then again, the rest of your post was absolute Greek to me so how would I know? Haha!! In general, the literature will say "fully balanced"... Not too sure about Parasound so don't really know ..
davewantsmoore Posted August 14, 2013 Posted August 14, 2013 I don't imagine the Parasound P3-A21 combo would have fake balancing. Both are "fake" balanced, for lack of a better term. (Very common) They are unbalanced circuits .... and the convert inputs and outputs to balanced connectors. Like said earlier. It's not really good to think of "balanced" as having positive connotations ... and "unbalanced" as being "bad". Balanced connection reject induced noise in cables ... OTOH, balanced circuits are arguable more difficult to get good performance from (and potentially more expensive). I think unbalanced is the superior type for home audio (all other things being equal) .... but either can be done right, so it's not really a worry until talking about a specific device. 1
Recommended Posts