Balanced vs Unbalanced?

Balance is only better if the signal from the source is balanced from the start, at the digital to conversion. I have owned several CD players & DACs that where that was the case and balanced did sound better. However I have owned a few CD players that had balanced output but the signal was split and inverted at the output stage that does not sound as good as single ended. It depends on the design. For a curve I have all single ended input sources, but between my Pass Labs XP 10 & my XA30.5 I use balanced. I have tried both balanced & single ended & I prefer balanced. Go figure

I too use a system that is balanced, from all of my primary sources, (phono and CD), through the preamp and then on to amps. I do like how quiet it is, but I think that has more to do with the design of the equipment than with the cables themselves.

And I agree with all the others that the connectors (terminations) of XLR cables are better, (because they lock, and almost more importantly, unlock), than the standard RCA terminations. (And I dislike locking RCA terminations, because they tend to lock up after time and getting them to unlock is a pain in the butt.)

However, as has been mentioned by others, only equipment truly designed to operate as balanced, (and not merely equipment that has a converter to take the signal from single ended to balanced), are worth using in balanced mode. Certain equipment manufacturers make sure that their equipment is truly designed from the ground up for balanced operation. (Ayre comes immediately to mind as one such manufacturer, and it has been noted by various reviewers that their equipment sounds noticeably better in balanced versus singled ended.)

My two cents worth.

There is no fundamental difference in sound quality between "balanced" and "single-ended" circuits. The major upside to balanced circuits is that they are less susceptible to correlated noise picked up by interconnects, ground loops and power supplies since the balanced circuit floats inside its own insulated world.

In a single-ended system one side of the circuit is also tied to, and exposed to, the external shield. Thus, if currents flow through the external shields from one component to another the different components will end up at different voltages causing hum and other less clear cut effects. To create a quiet single-ended system usually requires choosing a single grounding point for one component and "floating" the other components. This is particularly important if a phonostage with very low-level signals is present. This floating can possibly lead to safety issues under some conditions where one of the floating components is disconnected from the rest system, and thus no longer has a true ground, but it is still under power.

The downside of a balanced system is twofold: As mentioned above, a true balanced circuit has roughly twice as many components and hence is more expensive. And, while usually not a practical issue, it has in principle more uncorrelated noise (by sqrt(2)).

Thank you, smokester, for the clear explanation. It will not deter those with personal preferences, unfortunately.

Kal