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Balanced vs. Single Ended Interconnects

From your experience, would you expect a higher quality single ended interconnect or an entry level balanced interconnect to sound better when connecting two balanced components?

More specifically, I will be connecting a Denafrips Ares ii to a Pathos Classic One Mkiii and I currently have Audioquest Sydney RCA interconnects.  Is it worth getting some cheap Monoprice XLR cables or should I just wait until I can justify purchasing something from Audioquest (probably Red River or Belden BAV) in the future.   

- robot

mceljo

Showing 3 responses by audphile1

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,326 posts
 

@mceljo You’ve invested in good components so wait and get good XLR interconnects. The cheap Monoprice cables are only good to keep around for when you’re upgrading and are in between cables and don’t want to be left without music.

And even then, for this purpose I’d resort to something like BlueJeans or Mogami, not Monoprice. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,326 posts
 

Stay with your AQ RCA cables until you can buy a good set of XLR cables.  Buying the monoprice XLR is throwing $20 away. They won’t beat your audioquest cables. 
Also, my recommendation is to make bigger steps while upgrading. So if you want to stay with AQ go up to something like the Wind. Bypass the Red River. Or get better cables from another brand but stay in a price range of around $300-$500 for a used pair.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,326 posts
 

holmz's avatar

holmz

1,910 posts

 

@mceljo maybe the padre would let you borrow a set to try at home?
If they work fine at church, they should work at home.

Now you talkin’! A very solid thought!  What’s next…a speaker from an ice cream truck? They work just fine there, should work at home. 

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