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Adding Balanced Outputs to your amp?

Hey all:

I was just wondering what your take on upgrading your amp to have balanced outputs would be and if there was also anyone you could recommend to do that. I have a Sonic Frontiers SFCD-1 CDP and I remember when I first hooked it up and did a side by side comparison, the Balanced Output added much more to the music and it was quite the significant increase in improvement. I upgraded my then SS amp to tube monoblocks and while it sounds great now, it's missing a little of that fullness that I had before that I want to attribute to using the balanced outs.

I also remember reading somewhere on the a-gon forums about the circuitry of the balanced and how some companies now don't really do a "true balanced output" or something of the like..

Do you guys think it's worth it to mod an amp to add balanced outputs? What have your experiences been? I'm thinking about doing that to my Cary Sixpacs

Thanks all in advance!
neway317
6 responses Add your response
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
Yes Bob, but the amp is still not balanced, only the cable up to it. This may help for extreme cable lengths but that would be all.
Post removed 
dgarretson
2,598 posts
 
Adding XLR inputs pin-mapped to existing RCA connectors, adds absolutely nothing other than diversity of connectors. To enjoy the benefits of balanced cabling you would have to add internal coupling transformers or additional circuitry to split phase. Such additional components in signal path might sound better or worse, depending on implementation.
kr4's avatar
kr4
3,678 posts
 
It really depends on the context since the advantages of adding balanced lines depend on how noisy the environment is and how long those lines are. I run 10M interconnects in Manhattan and there's no difference between SE and BAL. OTOH, adding another input stage to an amp will add to the amp's inherent noise level since no active stage is absolutely silent.

Kal
rleff
1,065 posts
 
I think the mod is worth being done; this allows running long balanced lines which results in improved noise rejection;this lowers the noise floor level to increase low level detail and allows the use of shorter speaker cables.Especially nice if using monoblock amplifiers as to be able to be placed closer to the speakers.
rwwear
2,867 posts
 
They would be balanced inputs not outputs. I like balanced signals and use them when possible but I think the major advantage is lowering the noise floor. I don't feel there is a sound improvement unless of course you have very long interconnects. Of course any less noise is an improvement. Some companies now use balancing transformers instead of true differential circuitry. This is very much cheaper to do but I don't know how to implement it into an existing amp.
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