Eichmann Bullet Connector versus XLR


After reading all the positive feedback on the performance of Eichmann Silver Bullet connectors, I decided to install them on my favorite pair of interconnects. To say I'm thrilled with the improved detail and depth of soundstage is an understatement to say the least. I use this cable between my CD player and my preamp.

I'm now faced with a quandry that I'm sure many audiophiles now face. My preamp and amp supports both balanced and unbalanced connections and I'm currently using the balanced XLR connections. In the pre "low mass" RCA era (i.e. before the advent of the Eichmann Bullet or WBT Nextgen) it was pretty much a no-brainer to use the balanced connections especially for longer runs. Now however, I'm not so sure because I never remembered the XLR cables to provide the type of sonic improvement that the Eichmanns provide and I'd like to hear other people's thoughts or experiences on this subbject. On the surface, this may seem to be an apples versus oranges issue, but "low mass" RCAs to me has reopened the whole issue of balanced versus unbalanced.

audio_al
can you compare a connector to a circut ?...there are plenty of different xlr connectors (xhawdow, furutech, bonaachi, mastercraft etc...)
Al, it may have more to do with your preamp and driving sources. Is the preamp a true fully balanced design, or does it just convert a single ended signal to support a balanced connector? In that case you'd be going through extra circuitry using the XLR for (maybe) no real benefit. Are you using long ICs? That may indicate an advantage for XLR, but unless the input impedance of the preamp is very high it may not really matter.

If, OTOH, you have both a source and a preamp that operates in a true fully balanced configuration then I think using XLR could very well be the better choice.
While my experience does not directly shed light on the Eichmann part of the question, it does on the XLR vs. RCA. My preamp is single ended and I asked PS Audio's Paul McGowan about whether there are advantages using XLR vs RCA connections. He answered, yes there is an advantage IF you wire the XLR to gain the advantage of common mode noise rejection. Basically, that means wiring one internal connector wire to the hot #2 pin, the other internal wire to the #1 ground pin, and do not connect the shield to the amp XLR. Leave the drain wire/shield connected at the preamp end only. When I rewired my rca-xlr cables this way, there was a definite improvement over using the single ended inputs of my HCA-2 amp. Other amps may differ, check with the manufacturer.