opaqueice, Do you have balanced inputs on your amp? If so, would you throw that into the mix?
In blind testing with levels matched I and a friend compared xlr > rca and we identified a difference every time. It was more than a subtle difference. Less grain , smoother highs, more natural sounding with xlr. I always wanted to listen longer to one. After the test I learned it was the xlr I was always reluctant to leave. Switching was done via my preamp which has master volume which doesn't change between inputs . However the gain can be adjusted separately for each input so it was easy to level match. That way one person stood at the preamp and could silently and seamlessly switch between xlr and rca. It was an interesting and fun test. I have to point out that I used Rowlands own adapter plug( very high quality) to plug the rca cable into the balanced pre amp. The cables were the same model level by the same manufacturer, XLO. One set was balanced, the other rca. So one could argue that the difference was possibly due to the adaptor. However I think Sean pointed out that the AKM dac is balanced and when you use transporter balanced it doesn't go through a conversion process. Through transporters rca there is a conversion to single ended, so that also may account for the difference. Apologies in advance to Sean if I havemisunderstood or mangled what he said:-) Anyway, I would be very interested if you are able to also do this comparison. Tom -- tomjtx ------------------------------------------------------------------------ tomjtx's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=7449 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=34980 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
