When to choice XLR over RCA ICs.


If your IC connections are 1m or less is there a difference between using XLR over RCA Interconnects?

As one moves up the ICs cable lines with a manufacturer (ex. Audioquest) which connections would you upgrade first and in what order.

My system is McIntosh (C12000 two part preamp, Men220 room equalizer, MC611 mono-amps), Audioquest (AQ) Niagara 5000 line conditioner, and Hi-Fi Rose 150b streamer. 

I am currently using AQ Black Beauty XLR ICs. I have a pair of 1m Firebird RCA ICs and would like to replace one of the Black Beauty ICs in system configuration. Future upgrades looking for recommendations. 

Presently using a AQ 2m Thunder 20A power cord from wall socket to Niagara. 

Using 4ft AQ William Tell (Silver) bi-wire combo speaker cable (mono-amps to 800d3 speakers. 

Thank you, Please advise.

Bob

128x128farne230

Literally everything in my system except the turntable have balanced connections, and I’d do that, too if I could find a turntable Inlike that was balanced.  (Pro-ject has some new ones, but I’ve never seen them in person.)

Nothing fancy.  Made with top line Mogami wire and top Furutech connections.

Makes a huge difference.

... everything in my system except the turntable have balanced connections, and I’d do that, too if I could find a turntable Inlike that was balanced ...

Phono cartridges are inherently balanced or, if you want to be strictly accurate, they are floating. That is, there's a separate positive and negative for each channel. All that's needed to maintain that is a balanced phono preamp. It may be the best place in an audio system to use balanced lines and truly balanced components, such as ARC.

I appreciate everyone's response to my question and enjoyed the very detailed article provided by "ditusa". I will let you know if one pair of more expensive ICs unbalanced vs less expensive similar ICs change anything.

As always I can count on this forum to help a new-bee like me get the most out of his music.

Happy Holidays to All.

Bob

There is no real difference at one meter. 

This statement is incorrect. Balanced operation can be beneficial even if the connection is only 6", since rejection of noise impinged in the cable is not a function of length. If operating balanced, that noise is rejected at the receiving end.

Max Townshend told me that RCA's are the way to go over XLR's because RCA's give "pure sound". That the additional circuitry in XLR's detract from the pure sound..

@vinylshadow 

This is a common myth. If it were so, then recordings would all use single-ended connections, which they don't. The Golden Age of Stereo, which began in 1958 with the introduction of the first stereo LPs, was also ushered in by balanced lines, which allowed microphones to be placed correctly without the recording equipment being only a few feet from the performers. So this meant you could record in concert halls and the like without signal degradation before it hit the mic preamps in the tape machines of the time.

What is important to understand is the signal in a balanced line connection isn't push pull any more than it is in a single-ended cable- as long as the setup is compliant with AES48, the balanced line standard. You'll note there really isn't a standard for single-ended cables...

Literally everything in my system except the turntable have balanced connections, and I’d do that, too if I could find a turntable Inlike that was balanced.

@davetheoilguy 

Usually all that is required is to change out the tonearm cable. Sometimes, on cheaper stuff, this might require some soldering. But on tonearms that have the 5-pin DIN connection or RCAs with a ground post, its a simple matter of changing the cable so you can run balanced. In the case of the RCA connections, the shield of the cable goes to the ground post and the two RCA connections (center pin and the barrel) are the twisted pair within the shield. At the XLR input of the preamp, the twisted pair are pins 2 and 3 of the XLRs and the shield is pin 1. On no account should the shield of the cable contact the barrel connection of the RCA. This works a treat- you can use Mogami console wire which is low capacitance and this will work as well as any single-ended cable regardless of cost.

I've always seen the need to audition expensive cables as a hidden cost of single-ended preamps. When you run balanced, the cable cost is inconsequential if the equipment (such as the phono cartridge) supports AES48.

And a fantastic way to allocate most of that exotic cable savings into a much better phono cart or speakers…. because transducers REALLY matter…