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Balanced gear w/ unbalanced headphones: does it make sense? (indecision)

post #1 of 7
11/18/09 at 1:21pm
Thread Starter 
Hello!

I have got a question for you head-fiers!

Does it make sense to get balanced gear (dac outs, preamps) if the phone out is not balanced?


The question came in my mind together with this indecision....


I would like to get one of these two chains:

using a computer as a source:

COICHE N° 1
D/A C: Echo AudioFire4 (got balanced output stages)
HeadAmp: SPL 2control (which is more exactly a fully balanced 2.0 - 2.1 preamp w/v.good adjustable crossfeeded head-outs)

COICHE N° 2
D/A C: Meier Corda StageDAC (unbalanced)
HeadAmp: Another unbalanced headamp (but of quality!)

(Of course the password is: CROSSFEED! )



Thank you!!!
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post #2 of 7
11/18/09 at 3:59pm
I personally don't really care for crossfeed. Speaking generally you add some naturalness but you lose some slam. It's a very personal choice.

If you want to go balanced then of course you need a balanced amp as well. So if you want balanced you'll have to go all out (balanced DAC, balanced amp, balanced headphones).
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post #3 of 7
11/19/09 at 7:26am
Thread Starter 
So... everything or nothing?
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post #4 of 7
11/19/09 at 10:29am
Well, I think with a good balanced amp you do not lose too much with going with unbalanced source. I have a BUDA and UDAC from Headroom. I'm still going through the reviewing process but I have noticed little to no difference in switching between the balanced and cheap unbalanced cables that I have between the amp and DAC (just have to flip a switch to change, so handy). But the BUDA converts the unbalanced inputs to balanced, so the amp still gets an effectively balanced signal. So I think that if you have a balanced amp that can do that very well then there can be less emphasis on getting a balanced source from the beginning.

But unless you have a balanced amp and balanced headphones or intend to go that route in the future, I do not see any reason to get balanced source/amp since you will not make any use of the balanced features.
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post #5 of 7
11/19/09 at 11:01am
I noticed you are from Europe.
If you plan to go full balanced, consider the opportunity of a balanced 600-ohm Beyer DT-880,
and the HPBA-2 fully balanced driver from QES Labs in Italy.
It's an astounding matched pair.
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post #6 of 7
11/19/09 at 12:11pm
It doesn't cost much to make headphones balanced, just labor and connectors. If you are hesitant to make your headphones balanced because you still want to use it portably, you could terminate the headphone cable with some kind of 4 pin plug at 2 feet, then make a short extension cable with a mini-stereo connector (combine left and right ground at the mini-stereo end) and a longer extension cable with balanced xlr. But be warned I put a mini-xlr connector inside my headphone and think I notice some loss in SQ compared to hardwiring, like it sounded with the ultrasone detachable cable.
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post #7 of 7
11/19/09 at 3:42pm
Thread Starter 
Hello,

thank you very much for the advice but I cannot afford any balanced amp I know at the moment and I really need some kind of crossfeed! hoping It'll help!


@ 3nity: THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH I didn't see that page on the site about custom-made Beyers... I think a pair of those will be mine soon!!!
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