Well I'm not a manufacturer, but you can still take my comments with a grain of salt. I have heard AND owned fully balanced setups. I am now back using single-ended, so obviously, there IS going back. The main reason for going back to single-ended designs was economic reasons.
That being said, my current system is still very quiet and revealing. I will admit that the noise floor using a fully balanced system was lower, but once you factor in all the other noises in a real world listening enviornment, I can't say that I'm suffering.
My current system is about 20% of the cost of my old big rig days, and to be honest, I'm embarassed by how close it is sonically. To think....all those years of what I was sure were "upgrades"... Sure makes me wonder what I spent so much time and money obsessing over.
Tube/SS, Vinyl/Digital, Balanced/SE, just relax, have fun and enjoy the music.
That being said, my current system is still very quiet and revealing. I will admit that the noise floor using a fully balanced system was lower, but once you factor in all the other noises in a real world listening enviornment, I can't say that I'm suffering.
My current system is about 20% of the cost of my old big rig days, and to be honest, I'm embarassed by how close it is sonically. To think....all those years of what I was sure were "upgrades"... Sure makes me wonder what I spent so much time and money obsessing over.
Tube/SS, Vinyl/Digital, Balanced/SE, just relax, have fun and enjoy the music.