Headamp Blue Hawaii Special Edition - Page 183

A gold faceplate BHSE would be an awesome combo with a Lavry Gold as source.

Hello Sator... (too long for me, sorry)

Your question has probably been already answered, but maybe mine can help anyway...

When it comes to using RCA or XLR connectors, two points should be considered:

1. The topology (or circuitry) of the source and destination (e.g., CD reader and earphones amp) devices: for XLR connection to be profitable, both must of the balanced kind. According to Justin Wilson, this is the case for the BHSE -I think we can trust him!; I don't know about your Bel Canto DAC: you'll have to check! Notice that XLR sockets at the back of the rigs do not mean that the circuit behind is balanced; it simply means that XLR cables can be plugged in -which may be interesting anyway if you don't have RCA cables available.

2. The quality of cables and connectors: it's the most important feature to consider. Within the same price range, RCAs will be better and their higher quality will, most of the times, overcome the benefit of using XLR connection between two balanced devices; of course, exceptions may exist!

Therefore, if point 1. is met and if you can afford high-quality XLR cables, yes, you'll get better SQ results in every respect (especially signal/noise) with XLR cables.

Regards.

Hello Marty

I notice you changed your logo: now it's Bender!

Is it because of my remark (Futurama better than The Simpsons)?

Regards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil95 

Hello Marty

 

I notice you changed your logo: now it's Bender!

 

Is it because of my remark (Futurama better than The Simpsons)?

 

Regards.

It did remind me that my avatar was old............and I do like Futurama better............really need a smiling version of Bender wearing headphones though......this one shows him looking like he is listening to something ear-bleeding, like Beats.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil95 

Hello Sator... (too long for me, sorry)

 

Your question has probably been already answered, but maybe mine can help anyway...

 

When it comes to using RCA or XLR connectors, two points should be considered:

 

1. The topology (or circuitry) of the source and destination (e.g., CD reader and earphones amp) devices: for XLR connection to be profitable, both must of the balanced kind. According to Justin Wilson, this is the case for the BHSE -I think we can trust him!; I don't know about your Bel Canto DAC: you'll have to check! Notice that XLR sockets at the back of the rigs do not mean that the circuit behind is balanced; it simply means that XLR cables can be plugged in -which may be interesting anyway if you don't have RCA cables available.

 

2. The quality of cables and connectors: it's the most important feature to consider. Within the same price range, RCAs will be better and their higher quality will, most of the times, overcome the benefit of using XLR connection between two balanced devices; of course, exceptions may exist!

 

Therefore, if point 1. is met and if you can afford high-quality XLR cables, yes, you'll get better SQ results in every respect (especially signal/noise) with XLR cables.

 

Regards.

Thank you Phil. According to the description found on the Bel Canto website, it seems that the XLR connection is balanced. See below.

But I am a little confused by what you wrote. On the one hand you say that RCA will (almost) always outperform XLR (in the same price range), but that if I can afford XLR I should go for it. Please enlighten me! Thanks again.

I admit my conclusion isn't quite clear... Within the same price range, the measured performance (e.g., bandwidth) of RCA cables is better than XLR's, and if you do not benefit from balanced circuitry, this advantage is clearly audible. When balanced circuitry is in effect, sometimes the higher cable quality (RCA) wins, sometimes the balanced connection (necessarily XLR) has the upper hand. It depends, of course, on the cables and on the source/destination features. The best thing to do is to borrow cables for a test period and see (or hear) for yourself.

The question is: if price has no importance, are top-of-the-top XLR cables as good as their RCA equivalents? If such XLR cables exist, they will be noticeably dearer than RCAs.

(This discussion applies to modulation cables)

Oops delete.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil95 

I admit my conclusion isn't quite clear... Within the same price range, the measured performance (e.g., bandwidth) of RCA cables is better than XLR's, and if you do not benefit from balanced circuitry, this advantage is clearly audible. When balanced circuitry is in effect, sometimes the higher cable quality (RCA) wins, sometimes the balanced connection (necessarily XLR) has the upper hand. It depends, of course, on the cables and on the source/destination features. The best thing to do is to borrow cables for a test period and see (or hear) for yourself.

 

The question is: if price has no importance, are top-of-the-top XLR cables as good as their RCA equivalents? If such XLR cables exist, they will be noticeably dearer than RCAs.

 

(This discussion applies to modulation cables)

Thanks for the clarification Phil.

Just because I have a BHSE in order, it doesn't mean that price has no importance! I guess that I'll stick with the RCA cables I already have for a while, and borrow RCA cables to explore a little bit when I have a chance. 

point me to a single article that backs up this ridiculous claim.  no rca or xlr cable that I know of can possibly band limit the audio range

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil95 

I admit my conclusion isn't quite clear... Within the same price range, the measured performance (e.g., bandwidth) of RCA cables is better than XLR's,

Quote:

Originally Posted by justin w. 

These are the XLR cables that I use, and i recommend them: http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Audio-Cables/XLR-to-XLR-Cables/TecNec/SC100XXJ.xhtml

and

http://www.markertek.com/Cables/Audio-Cables/XLR-to-XLR-Cables/TecNec/SC50XXJ-B.xhtml

Thank you Justin.15 dollars for 1.5. meter. Wow, those are cheap! 

So Justin, and Doug, do you agree with Phil that there is no much difference between RCA and XLR? I have a pair of RCA Kimbercable Hero, which I paid about 150 dollars if I am not mistaken. Perhaps I should just stick with it.