Phase inversion, active speakers and a tortured soul

I have used an Atma-Sphere MP-3 preamp to drive active ATC speakers.

Duke 
dealer

Hmmmmm, the only thing that should prevent it from working out is a low impedance input on the ATCs, but hey, what do I know?

consider that if you have no noise issues, that ..at such a point... single ended would be inherently superior to a single ended design preamp level signal.. converted to balanced... sent down a balanced line, then converted back to single ended again inside the ATC speaker.

That’s three actual distortion creating points, that are avoided (balanced conversion, the balanced cable itself and making the signal single ended again), if you remain in a single ended domain.

Balanced has no fundamentally legitimate (read: superior) place in home audio, it is relevant for killing off noise in studio situations, or in ridiculously long cables in professional situations, like live music.

At home, single ended is just fine, and can be notably better, if well executed (for three basic and real reasons!). There are precious few exceptions to this rule, but it takes a long long time to explain the why of it...

Balanced became a big thing in home audio because of assumption, assumption that if the pros use it, it must be better, right? Manufacturers aren’t going to disagree, when it means sales of new more complex and expensive gear. Hell no.