RCA versus XLR interconnects

eylai777

Seems like this budget $850 DAC/Streamer has a full differential circuitry but Jay Iyagi ... suggests it’s Op-amp.

You don’t seem to understand balanced differential circuits, which commonly use operational amplifiers. It is not as simple as "two completely identical circuits out of phase to minimize distortion" as you seem to believe.

One can only verify by opening the unit up which I'm not going to do ...

The schematic would be just as helpful.

tokushi

XLR cables are balanced, while RCA cables are unbalanced. Balanced cables have an advantage ...

It is the circuit, not the cable, that determines whether a component is balanced. Some differentially balanced components use RCAs on the inputs, such as the ARC Reference Phono preamps. Some components use only XLRs on the inputs and outputs but in fact are single-ended components, and use only two pins of the XLR connector.

Depending on the component design, balanced circuitry can yield 6dB greater output when using the balanced input rather than a single-ended input.

eylai777

... To have a truly balanced component, it needs to have 2 completely identical circuits that are out of phase (full deferential) ...

That isn’t really correct and the guy who told you that doesn’t know how op-amps work.

OCD HiFi Guy also said true balanced components do not have RCA connectors, only XLR.

OCD HiFi guy is completely wrong. It isn’t the connector that establishes whether an amplifier is differentially balanced, it’s the circuitry. As an example, consider ARC’s series of Reference Phono preamps. Fully differentially balanced; inputs are RCAs only.

ghdprentice

... I find the quality of the interconnects are more important than whether they are single ended or balanced. Balanced are a bit louder… but this difference is not likely to net you a performance gain.

It really depends on the design of the equipment. For differentially balanced components that are AES48 compliant, there should be no volume difference between single-ended and balanced. But many differentially balanced components do not observe the AES48 standard, such as most (if not all) ARC amplifiers. In that case, you get 6 dB more gain using the balanced connection. Or, if you prefer, you can look at it as a 6dB improvement in S/N.