All things being equal (hypothetical) which do you prefer, XLR or RCA?


Hello All,

Just curious here. All things being equal would you go balanced or unbalanced if you have the option for both? I only ask because I've never really compared-though I have gone both routes at different times. I have gone the balanced route now (power amp to pre, and DAC to pre), but wonder which route you all would choose...Just curious and having some fun...
kingbr

Showing 1 response by tkron

Hello, I am running a Parasound P6 Pre with Parasound A21 amp feeding it with Yamaha cd-s1000 sacd player, and  a musichall 7.3 with Ortofon Black 2m  for my turntable, all feeding my B&W  803s's.
I am running Audioquest Water RCA's, and XLR's. I did notice the different between the RCA and XLR. The XLR's  have a more open sound stage compared to the RCA's . Imaging was better. But i only can use the XLR between the Pre and Amp, every thing else is RCA's.
My other system Mcintosh c42 pre and dual mc162 amps. I really noticed the difference between the XLR to the RCA's.But it also depends on the cable, not all cables are made the same or sound the same.