AudioBear
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2007
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[snip] The LC, of course, is another example. Most balanced amps half-ass the SE part (literally, they use half the amp and half the power). The LC has the phase splitter so that the SE input sounds the same as teh balanced input. So running the DAC-19 into the SE part of the LC makes it sound just as good as running the GMB into the balanced part of the LC.
One thing that's often quoted in Audio-GD threads is that SE done right can sound as good as balanced. The NFB-28 and NFB-29 are the same thing but one is built for SE and one is built for balanced. The SE port on the NFB-29 sounds better than the SE port on the NFB-28 and vice versa with balanced.
So my point is that you can't just say "anything I've heard with both ports sound worse in SE mode" because that could be more of a comment on how those companies implement their SE than on the capabilities of SE in general.
[snip]
I think you put this very well. Done right there should be zero difference. As we all know balanced is really useful for long runs in electrically noisy environments which is not usually we most of us listen to music (subways could be an exception here). I have no argument that many SE outputs are an afterthought of design. What you did not mention is that many balanced outputs aren't really balanced designs. That should make no difference either but people are hearing differences.
My reason for wanting balanced and SE on everything I own is a little different. Although I concede that there are excellent SE connectors, I like the balanced connectors better for making a good solid contact and staying where you put them. Secondly, I like the flexibility of having either connection and always being able to connect one thing to another. Examples are having a balanced output and a hard-wired SE earphone. Schiit Mjolnir for example only has balanced inputs and outputs. I didn't buy one because of that. They have now fixed that on M-2.