Quote:
Originally Posted by
cactus_farmer 
Headroom say you need to use a balanced source in order to hear headphones balanced with a balanced system, but they might have a vested interest in saying that in order to sell their own 'balanced dacs'
I've seldom seen a DAC described as 'balanced'....
Do you need a balanced DAC in order to properly hear the balanced signal from your balanced amp and balanced headphones?
You don't "need" a balanced DAC to go with a balanced amp driving balanced headphones - as already pointed out, a balanced amp with phase inverters will essentially achieve the same thing to drive balanced headphones.
To expand on the post right above mine (#4), XLR output jacks on a DAC does mean it has balanced output, but that also doesn't mean it's necessarily properly balanced, because there's definitely a huge difference between phase inverters and dual-differential DACs, and some DACs that have XLR output actually use phase inverters instead of using a dual-differential DAC configuration, which is ideal to derive a fully-balanced signal and hence better sound quality.
In short, the best way to form a balanced system is to use a source component with a dual-differential DAC configuration and balanced analog XLR output (the two aren't mutually exclusive, as there are actually lots of source components that have dual-differential DACs but aren't balanced), driving a balanced amp ("dual mono" is the term you want to look for on a proper balanced amp) through standard 3-pin XLR interconnects. And of course most headphones will need to be re-cabled for balanced drive.
