True Balanced ?
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True Balanced ?
Does your equipments are True Balanced Design or just single ended circuitry with Balanced Output ? Many people (even hard core veterans) might get confused in this topic. Many of us only "judge" the equipment as "Balanced" if it has the XLR out.
NO NO.. 1st of all. What so great about True Balanced Circuitry ?
This design has the pro of high signal to noise ratio, 6dB higher signal level , extremely good in common mode noise rejection.
However, this will not applied to those " padded bra equipment"
which using single ended circuitry but connected through XLR connector or just added on some OP AMP to "mirror" the signal as mentioned in PS Audio article below..
So how we know which is TRUE BALANCED which is NOT ?
Some brand name swear by pride by designing Balanced Circuitry
ie: KRELL , Audio Research V series ... Reference Series...
High Cost ? Yes
WHY ? Single Ended for a Stereo needs 2 amplifiers
Balanced Circuit for a Stereo needs 4 amplifiers
Single Ended required less stringent component
tolerance matching , ie: potentiometer
Balanced Circuit need CLOSELY matched value for
volume pot or you will experience poor sound
Complexity ? Yes
WHY ? Always easy to design 2 stages vs 4 stages.
Benefits ? Absolutely
WHY ? Ask HIFI shop
BUT even some "Older" Accuphase Equipment has Balanced Output but not Balanced Design.. so what ? No big deal unless you do a
AB comparison. Or as Apek said "got noise floor , sound only comes out " too Quiet ,too Transient sounds like RO water. no taste "
The choice is yours.. But Accuphase lately models also bear
Balanced Design ... Figure out yourself the reason WHY...
Haha.. Just sharing
True balanced?
Join Our CommunitySubscribe to Paul's Posts
December 4, 2014 by Paul McGowan
For many years audio equipment gave only token acceptance to balance outs and ins. Treated more as a courtesy or ‘sure, we have them too’ attitude, designers quickly hustled out recycled products with balanced outs to differentiate themselves without regard to their actual benefit. I think that happens less today but it certainly isn’t gone.
Before balanced circuitry became more popular than it is today the norm was to simply graft on an output inverter to an existing unbalanced design and call it balanced. Indeed, these products produced the requisite in phase/ out of phase signals needed to supply a balanced cable. Worse still, a number of designers also shoehorned inputs that accepted balanced signals but took little advantage of their common mode rejection potential. This practice was more prevalent than you might think, and still happens today. I can’t tell you the number of ‘balanced’ audio circuits I’ve looked at that tacked on a courtesy inverted output signal to a single ended amplifier circuit. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest it was the norm, while a true balanced circuit was the exception.
What does this added inverter look like? In most cases it was nothing more than a $0.25 op amp configured to feed off the amplifier’s output and invert the signal. It requires a few resistors and an op amp.
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While this certainly qualifies as a balanced output it does not qualify as a balanced circuit. It is mostly just grafted onto an existing unbalanced circuit.
NO NO.. 1st of all. What so great about True Balanced Circuitry ?
This design has the pro of high signal to noise ratio, 6dB higher signal level , extremely good in common mode noise rejection.
However, this will not applied to those " padded bra equipment"
which using single ended circuitry but connected through XLR connector or just added on some OP AMP to "mirror" the signal as mentioned in PS Audio article below..
So how we know which is TRUE BALANCED which is NOT ?
Some brand name swear by pride by designing Balanced Circuitry
ie: KRELL , Audio Research V series ... Reference Series...
High Cost ? Yes
WHY ? Single Ended for a Stereo needs 2 amplifiers
Balanced Circuit for a Stereo needs 4 amplifiers
Single Ended required less stringent component
tolerance matching , ie: potentiometer
Balanced Circuit need CLOSELY matched value for
volume pot or you will experience poor sound
Complexity ? Yes
WHY ? Always easy to design 2 stages vs 4 stages.
Benefits ? Absolutely
WHY ? Ask HIFI shop
BUT even some "Older" Accuphase Equipment has Balanced Output but not Balanced Design.. so what ? No big deal unless you do a
AB comparison. Or as Apek said "got noise floor , sound only comes out " too Quiet ,too Transient sounds like RO water. no taste "
The choice is yours.. But Accuphase lately models also bear
Balanced Design ... Figure out yourself the reason WHY...
Haha.. Just sharing
True balanced?
Join Our CommunitySubscribe to Paul's Posts
December 4, 2014 by Paul McGowan
For many years audio equipment gave only token acceptance to balance outs and ins. Treated more as a courtesy or ‘sure, we have them too’ attitude, designers quickly hustled out recycled products with balanced outs to differentiate themselves without regard to their actual benefit. I think that happens less today but it certainly isn’t gone.
Before balanced circuitry became more popular than it is today the norm was to simply graft on an output inverter to an existing unbalanced design and call it balanced. Indeed, these products produced the requisite in phase/ out of phase signals needed to supply a balanced cable. Worse still, a number of designers also shoehorned inputs that accepted balanced signals but took little advantage of their common mode rejection potential. This practice was more prevalent than you might think, and still happens today. I can’t tell you the number of ‘balanced’ audio circuits I’ve looked at that tacked on a courtesy inverted output signal to a single ended amplifier circuit. In fact, I would go so far as to suggest it was the norm, while a true balanced circuit was the exception.
What does this added inverter look like? In most cases it was nothing more than a $0.25 op amp configured to feed off the amplifier’s output and invert the signal. It requires a few resistors and an op amp.
[size][url][/url][/size]
While this certainly qualifies as a balanced output it does not qualify as a balanced circuit. It is mostly just grafted onto an existing unbalanced circuit.
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Re: True Balanced ?
Both my integrated and pre are true balanced but don’t use it. Did not hear much difference, other than the input level being higher. I got short cable run so ...
WillT- Frequent Contributor
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