's up Krelldog, Look, if you are going to go around being "the Krelldog", you have got to get this technical stuff down. I suggest you buy "The Complete Guide to High End Audio" by Robert Harley. It will provide the answers to questions like these.
If your amp, preamp, and source are all really balanced, then there's about 3 or 4 good reasons to go balanced, and one not to...cost. Using balanced interconnects with a truly balanced (they have two separate circuit paths for each channel one for the negative signal and one for the positive signal) preamp/amp will:
1. Cancel noise picked up on the interconnect.
2. Deliver a 6db louder signal to the amp which improves the signal-to-noise ratio by 4 times.
3. Generally do not cause the speakers to pop or hum when connected/disconnected if the amp is on or still has current stored in the power supply caps.
A number of manufacturers provide "balanced" inputs and outputs on their amps/preamps cd players but instead of providing dual differential circuitry they use a phase splitter (op-amp) to convert from an unbalanced signal. That puts more circuitry in the signal path which can degrade the quality of the sound.
Only a few high end manufacturers put dual differential circuitry into their amps, preamps, and digital front ends. If you have such an amp, preamp, and CD then you will be able to hear the difference so yes it's worth it.
As for your last question, the answer is: That would be best but it depends on the quality of the circuitry in your unbalanced component.
If your amp, preamp, and source are all really balanced, then there's about 3 or 4 good reasons to go balanced, and one not to...cost. Using balanced interconnects with a truly balanced (they have two separate circuit paths for each channel one for the negative signal and one for the positive signal) preamp/amp will:
1. Cancel noise picked up on the interconnect.
2. Deliver a 6db louder signal to the amp which improves the signal-to-noise ratio by 4 times.
3. Generally do not cause the speakers to pop or hum when connected/disconnected if the amp is on or still has current stored in the power supply caps.
A number of manufacturers provide "balanced" inputs and outputs on their amps/preamps cd players but instead of providing dual differential circuitry they use a phase splitter (op-amp) to convert from an unbalanced signal. That puts more circuitry in the signal path which can degrade the quality of the sound.
Only a few high end manufacturers put dual differential circuitry into their amps, preamps, and digital front ends. If you have such an amp, preamp, and CD then you will be able to hear the difference so yes it's worth it.
As for your last question, the answer is: That would be best but it depends on the quality of the circuitry in your unbalanced component.