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Balanced But Not Fully Balanced

I own a preamp which has both balanced and single ended jacks. I assumed that since I was using the balanced jacks I was getting the benefit of a balanced circuit. I have just now realized that just having balanced plug-ins doesn't mean your preamp (or any other component) is "balanced." Just wondering what sonic compromises are being made with equipment which has balanced inputs and outputs but changes the signal to single ended as it passes through it. If you are using the balanced outputs, what good is that if the signal going into this jack is single ended? I don't understand what good is it to offer equipment with balanced capability only to revert to single ended signals. Is this just a gimmick to sell equipment or is there some advantage to not making the circuitry "fully balanced?"
frepec

Showing 3 responses by atmasphere

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,111 posts
 
My question though: Is it typically a tip-off that a component is NOT fully balanced if the XLR input or output connectors for left and right channel are close to one another on one side of the component (say both on othe right side, rear faceplate), as opposed to being spaced from one another and generally on opposite (left and right) sides of the component?
No!  They can be side by side with no worries.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,111 posts
 
There is no good way to know without really understanding circuitry when you see it, so usually the best means is to ask pointed questions of the manufacturer. Quite often though the fact that the circuit is 'fully balanced' will be a selling point, so it should not be hard to sort out.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,111 posts
 
If the gear uses transformers for input or output, then it can operate fine in the balanced domain with no tradeoffs. But preamps with input or output transformers are rather unusual.

Balanced operation was originally conceived to eliminate problems with interconnect cables and it does that very well, in fact so well that it does not matter if the equipment is balanced or not if it can drive the cable correctly- the difference is that profound. Its how the record industry was able to hang mics in a concert hall 50 years ago and at the other end of 200 feet it still sounds like music :)

But a lot of companies just install the XLR cable to be trendy. If that is what you have it will probably work no better than the RCA connection.
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