cliveb;578352 Wrote: > I'm one of the people who disagrees with Phil on this. > > The most obvious benefit of balanced is the relative immunity to > interference because of the common mode rejection effect. (Simplistic > explanation: the induced noise is in phase on the two signal wires, and > when one is inverted to be added to the other, the noise becomes out of > phase and cancels itself). And as Phil states, this is most in evidence > on long runs and/or low level signals. > > But there's another, more subtle, benefit to balanced: it galvanically > isolates the ground planes of the source and load. I believe this has > an advantageous effect on the noise levels, resulting in a "blacker > background" (if you'll excuse the audiophile jargon), which in turn > reveals a finer level of detail. This effect is independent of cable > length.
Galvanic isolation is not a given in a balanced connection... depends on the implementation. depends on how/if the "grounds" are connected at each end, and if the grounds are "liftable"... Also, I should point out that even if you lift the signal grounds, there will still be a connection through the mains ground (for any equipment that is not double insulated). The only way to test galvanic isolation is to use an ohmmeter/multimeter. I do agree with Clive that GI is beneficial - at least in theory. However where we probably disagree is that I think that if you get an improved sound with balanced connection over short distances, something is very wrong with the earthing arrangements on one or both of the connected items... I'm not saying that balanced is not a good thing (it is). I'm saying it should NOT be necessary in normal circumstances... -- Phil Leigh You want to see the signal path BEFORE it gets onto a CD/vinyl...it ain't what you'd call minimal... Touch(wired/XP) - TACT 2.2X (Linear PSU) + Good Vibrations S/W - MF Triplethreat(Audiocom full mods) - Linn 5103 - Aktiv 5.1 system (6x LK140's, ESPEK/TRIKAN/KATAN/SEIZMIK 10.5), Pekin Tuner, Townsend Supertweeters, Blue Jeans Digital,Kimber Speaker & Chord Interconnect cables Kitchen Boom, Outdoors: SB Radio, Harmony One remote for everything. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phil Leigh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=85 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=82122 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
