Should I upgrade to XLR interconnects?

The devil is in the details here. Manufacturers call XLR inputs "balanced" in their literature, whether or not the circuitry design is truly differentially balanced or not.

If your gear is not differentially balanced, it probably uses an opamp in the input/output stage of the XLR circuit which is almost always detrimental to sound quality, and many times significantly so.

If your gear is differentially balanced, then using XLR cables is advantageous, not only because it cancels incoming noise from upstream, but usually provides +6db of additional gain.

Marantz states "Line level inputs feature unbalanced (RCA) and fully balanced XLR options for maximum connection flexibility." in the literature of the PM-11S3. The use of the word, "fully" should mean that it is differentially balanced. Their literature for the SA-11S3 states, "The sophisticated fully differential analog output stages feature our exclusive HDAM SA2 and HDAM technologies,"

I would recommend using XLR cabling in this case. Whether the sonic differences are significant to you and worth the investment will only be known after some experimentation.

Dave

"Some argue that...
- single ended designs are simpler (i.e. no XLR circuitry) and therefore reproduce music more faithfully.
- some components with balanced I/O’s may be single ended designs under the covers and therefore do not capitalize on the balanced approach.
- the various balanced circuitry implemented in some components may not be of the best quality, resulting in signal degradation."

willie,

Did you read the OP or my prior thread? The OP is not selecting components, but cables. If the gear is differentially balanced, using XLR cables will provide a "simpler" circuitry path than SE.

Dave

Hi Alan,

Where do you derive your certainty that this is the case? Marantz’s literature indicates otherwise, but does fall short of stating that the preamp is fully differentially balanced as they do for the disc player. Were I the OP, I would check with Marantz to confirm this for certain.

Dave

Hi sjtm,

Some manufacturers (atmasphere?) posit that when using XLR cabling in truly differentially balanced systems, different brands/models of XLR cables make much less (none?) sonic difference because the differential circuitry inherently cancels noise, thus making the differing noise rejection characteristics of different cable designs insignificant.

My experience is that I do hear differences between brands of XLR cabling in my differentially balanced system, FWIW.

Sorry, no personal experience with your preferred brand of cable.

Dave

Hi Bob,

What I intended to say is that non-differentially balanced equipment adds a conversion circuit, often using a cheap opamp, to convert the incoming "balanced" signal to single ended at the input stage and then again at the output stage to convert the SE signal to a "balanced" output. This additional circuitry is detrimental to sound quality IME.

Thanks for the correction.

Dave