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Switched from RCA to XLR Interconnects - WOW

I just received a set of Pangea True Balanced Premier SE XLR interconnects from Audio Advisor and connected them between my phono preamp to my amp.
I really didn't expect to hear any major difference, but man was I wrong.  The sound quality is night and day improved over my previous cables (Clear Day Cables RCA cables).  The improvement in bass response is amazing, and the soundstage got about 2 feet wider and deeper.  Mids and highs are also more clearly defined, and the backgrounds are about as black as I have ever heard.   What also surprised me is how much hotter the signal is into the amp.  I had to turn the volume down quite a bit to equal levels I usually listed to with the previous cables.
FYI, the preamp is a Parasound JC3+ and the amp is a Lyngdorf TDAI-3400.  
I'm really impressed.  I had always wanted to try using balanced cables but this is the first amp I have owned that had balanced inputs.  
snackeyp

Showing 3 responses by ieales

ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
@almarg - spot on, as usual.

Changing to balanced cables can have ZERO or HUGE effect depending on electronics and system configuration. Given the OPs rapture, it’s quite possible his unbal setup was incorrect or a piece of gear has a poor unbal implementation.

Will every on please read The G Word, or How to Get Your Audio off the Ground by Bruno Putzeys before prattling on. https://www.hypex.nl/img/upload/doc/an_wp/WP_The_G_word.pdf

In a properly designed and configured system, balanced is simply a different set of colorations.
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
Balanced reduces induced noise. If the output is noisy, balanced will not reduced the noise. Balanced may offer some relief in noisy environments provided the rest of the electronics are sufficiently well designed. I fixed lots of 'pro audio' gear that was not.

The video is irrelevant. One can use star quad in unbalanced connections and achieve similar results. Connect the screen at one end only.

Many would do well to arrange the rats nest behind their gear to achieve several db better noise figures.
ieales's avatar
ieales
1,201 posts
 
@shadorne I designed and installed professional recording studio equipment. My company also did studio wiring installations. We offered a service to 'quiet' installations where implementation was less than stellar. We never failed to dramatically quieten. 

Most gear is unbalanced internally. To balance an output a transformer or an additional inverting amplifier must be added. In the case of the amplifier, it has its own self-noise and any induced noise not also in the +phase will be amplified at the receiving end.

A home HiFi is less than trivial relative to a multi-studio installation. In too many instances an XLR is added simply for the 'pro' cachet. It has as much sonic benefit as Titanium handles.
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