Balanced vs Unbalanced?

OK Herman, yeah maybe a little, or maybe more than that :) But really, its pretty easy. If you drive the cathode of the input tube rather than the grid you have what is called a grounded-grid circuit. You need a coupling cap to do it. Turns out that the value of that cap is the same if that cap were to be used as a cathode bypass cap, in the case of normally driving the grid.

So, why not drive both the grid and the cathode in opposition? In practice, this works quite easily. You install an XLR on the amp, and attach the cathode bypass cap (if there is one, if not you have to supply one) to pin 3 of the XLR rather than ground. Pin 1 of the XLR goes to ground, and pin 2 goes to the RCA input. Now if you drive the grid only, single-ended, you will want to put a jumper between pin 1 and 3 if the cap was a bypass cap. If not, you don't need the jumper.

The only trick is that the grounded-grid input is pretty low impedance. You might want to have an auxiliary resistor that plugs into the RCA input that sets the normal input (pin 2) to the same value. This is not a problem if your preamp supports the balanced line standard.

I have this hookup running right now on a set of DIY amps I built, which are a set of push-pull amps using 45s for output tubes (class A), and a single-ended driver circuit similar to a Dyna ST-70, only all-triode. I didn't bother with the extra resistor, as this input behaves a lot like a differential input. I guarantee you that if you tie the two inputs together and try to inject a signal, you will find there is a substantial CMRR.

Atmasphere; one question. are you saying, in an xlr set up, that the interconnectors, as long as they are of reasonable quality, really do not matter? I have found this to be true. you seem to know a lot about this. I would value your opinion and any explination. not to technical please. thanks

Koegz, in a nutshell, that is the whole point of balanced line operation. The system was created to eliminate interconnect cable problems.

There is a standard that has to be conformed to in order for this to be true. If the conformance is not there, you will still hear differences in the cable.

The primary hanging point with most high end gear is the 600 ohm termination standard. What this means is that the equipment should be able to drive a load of 600 ohms (which might be at the input of the amplifier) without difficulty (for example loss of bass). For tubes this usually means an output transformer, or very large coupling caps, 100uf or more. Most high end manufacturers don't want to put in such a large capacitor at the output of the preamp, as it will color the sound and for the same reason aren't usually too keen about an output transformer either. That's why conformance to the standard is rare.

Ralph, I get what you are saying, and I may try it sometime, but I don't use a bypass cap. I have the filament current of my input tube going through the cathode resistor to establish bias. That R is only a few ohms so too low to do what you say.

Thanks for the idea though.

I am also confused with the different between Balanced vs Unbalanced. When I google it, they all say XLR better than Unbalanced. But during my test, I notice that it is not the case. I don’t know if its my system act differently or not.
Here is my gear.
McIntosh C52 preamp
Lumin D2 Streamer
Cambridge DAC Magic 200M.
https://www.moon-audio.com/silver-dragon-digital-cable-v1.html

Right now, I have the Digital Coax Silver Dragon silver cable connected from the Lumin D2 to my external DACMagic 200M. The DACMagic 200M has two output XLR or RCA.
I have both cables connected to my McIntosh C52 Preamp line in. So when I play the music from my streamer, I can switch from RCA or XLR to compare different. I noticed the sound from the RCA is much clear and brighter. I played a few songs that I listen to million times and hear the hi-hat way more clear than the XLR. I just don’t know why. Other people who used the XLR saying it has more clarity then RCA. But I don’t hear that at all. Even though I had my girlfriend did a blind test. She always pick the RCA has crystal clear sound.

Does any one have that experience ?

If I am not using the external DAC. I have the Lumin D2 connected to the digital coaxial silver dragon and XLR to the McIntosh C52. Switching back and forth for comparison. The clarity still from the Digital Coaxial cable. Is it because the XLR is more flat and neutral sounding?

or something wrong with my equipment lol?

Please help :-(

But during my test, I notice that it is not the case. I don’t know if its my system act differently or not.

The problem is that your gear doesn't support the balanced line standard, also known as AES48. This means that the interconnect cables will play a role in the system sound at the very least. It may well be that the balanced signal is going through additional circuits that the single-ended signal isn't.


To get everything out of balanced operation (otherwise, why do it?) you have to follow the standards. Otherwise the results are highly variable! Single ended connections don't have much in the way of standards. High end audio pretty much ignores AES48, perhaps because its harder to do. One of the most difficult issues is that in a balanced connection, the ground connection is ignored- there's no signal return currents in the shield of the interconnect cable. This is the aspect of balanced operation that is most commonly violated in high end audio.