Dr. Richard Bews:
Balanced operation has advantages in environments of high noise or where cables have to be very long. Studios are a good example. The domestic environment normally doesnt require balanced operation from a technical viewpoint. Balanced operation came about, because certain US manufacturers could give some technical bullshit to sell their amplifiers!
Balanced operation invariably adds complication, which can lead to problems, so why make the life of an amplifier more difficult than it needs to be?
Its difficult to make a simple amplifier sound really good, so doubling the amount of circuitry (as often happens in balanced amplifiers) just makes it more difficult. When (our) amplifiers interface with amplifiers with balanced inputs or outputs, we prefer to use specially designed transformers to convert between single ended and balanced operation. This is simple, but does put demands on the circuitry and the design of the transformer.
Balanced operation has advantages in environments of high noise or where cables have to be very long. Studios are a good example. The domestic environment normally doesnt require balanced operation from a technical viewpoint. Balanced operation came about, because certain US manufacturers could give some technical bullshit to sell their amplifiers!
Balanced operation invariably adds complication, which can lead to problems, so why make the life of an amplifier more difficult than it needs to be?
Its difficult to make a simple amplifier sound really good, so doubling the amount of circuitry (as often happens in balanced amplifiers) just makes it more difficult. When (our) amplifiers interface with amplifiers with balanced inputs or outputs, we prefer to use specially designed transformers to convert between single ended and balanced operation. This is simple, but does put demands on the circuitry and the design of the transformer.