markl
Hangin' with the monkeys.
Member of the Trade: Lawton Audio
- Joined
- Jun 22, 2001
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[size=small]A Balanced vs. Single-Ended Experiment[/size]
Because I had owned the Sony R10 for years and years, going balanced was never really a feasible option (sending an irreplaceable phone like that out for surgery, no matter how minor, would give anyone pause for thought).
But now that I use a more affordable modified mass-market headphone (Denon D5000), I had no such qualms. I have no real experience with balanced headphones (or balanced anything for that matter) outside of Head-Fi meet conditions, which as always was on unfamiliar gear in a less-than-ideal environment. I have a sense of what to expect from reading this site over the years, but for all practical purposes, I'm a "balanced virgin".
Rather than being strictly a review Rudi's amazing flagship solid state behemoth, this thread will focus on my on-going impressions of balanced vs. single-ended listening, mainly so I can collect my own observations and isolate and evaluate for myself what I hear as the differences between the two.
According to Rudi, this latest RP010B does have some minor upgrades over the single-ended only RP010 I was using before, however I expect these differences to be relatively small. To read my blatherings on how great the single-ended RP010 is, you can read all about it here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rud...d-pics-232993/
Since it's a modular design ("quad mono"), going balanced more or less means simply adding two more modules to the basic RP010 design along with balanced ins and outs (you can see this in the pics below, note the four separate boxes). This should provide a reasonably pure apples-to-apples way to test single-ended performance vs. balanced, as switching to balanced just engages two more of the same modules. (OK, this is my layman's understanding of the design, I'm sure what's happening from an engineering standpoint is a bit more nuanced and complicated than that, but you get the basic idea.)
For this test, I have two mod-ed D5000s with Jena 22G wire and Furutech jacks, one pair single-ended and one balanced. The balanced pair is not yet broken in, so that will be a factor in the early going.
Now there are two other complications to this picture of a "perfect" test bed. From what I gather from reading some of the heated debates on these boards, the vast majority of CDPs do not really output a "pure" balanced signal. Do I know the electrical difference between a true balanced output and a "fake" one? Er, no.
Can I explain to you why this is so, and what is needed to make the issue go away? Nope. Can I explain if there are any benefits or draw-backs to going "balanced" with your amp and phones, even if your source can't generate a true balanced signal? Uh-uh. I don't have the answers to any of these controversies, I'm just a layman... I do know this issue is complicated, and that the ideal would be to have a truly balanced source, amp, and headphones, for a pure balanced signal path all the way through, which I believe I actually have.
My player, a Marantz SA-7S1, has been heavily modified/upgraded, and one of the mods is to replace the entire stock analog output section with Audio Consulting output transformers. They are wired at (or very near) the output of the digital section (DAC board), by-passing everything else. I am told that this approach does indeed provide a "pure" balanced output, whereas the un-mod-ed player would not do this, just like the majority of other CD players on the market. Again, I am relying on what I have been told, I am not expert enough to look at my player and the mods and to "know" if this is true. In any case, I *expect* this will give some sort of benefit in terms of being able to evaluate the efficacy of going balanced not available to most people.
Drawback #2 is that I no longer have my single-ended Virtual Dynamics Genesis ICs; had to be sacrificed to afford the RP010B
(I know, poor ol' me
). Instead, I am using the Virtual Dynamics Master LE balanced ICs (a couple notches down in VD's line but still absurd and wasteful from most Head-Fiers standpoints), which you can see in the pic below. The point is, I no longer have a good single-ended IC to use to test a pure single-ended signal path vs. balanced. That means, I am going balanced from the CD player to the amp, then using the amp's single-ended output to my single-ended D5000.
So in essence, it's probably more a test of the adavantages of balancing headphones period, rather than looking at the entire signal path per se.
*phew*, OK, how 'bout some pics already?
[size=small]RP010B with Remote[/size]
Once you have the pleasure of owning a headphone amp with remote volume control, believe me, there's no going back. I LOVE this feature. Pressing the buttons physically moves the big shiny volume pot on the front of the unit. Sweet!
[size=small]RP010B with MD5000DE[/size]
Love them Furutechs, not cheap, but incredibly well-made. Snug fit!
[size=small]RP010B Rear Panel[/size]
[size=small]RP010B Guts[/size]
Yeah, not a great exposure, but what can you do with these digital cameras? Still, you can see all the individual modules that make up the "quad-mono" design. Each module is enclosed in its own cage to isolate it electrically and prevent any nasties (EMI/RFI) from contaminating the sound.
[size=small]Virtual Dynamics Master LE Balanced IC[/size]
Yep, she's big, fat, and totally unbending and uncompromising, but she will will whip you with her tail if you dare point that out!
[size=small]New Michael Wolff Audio Source Cords[/size]
Michael Wolff is at it again. Here we have two of his latest and greatest "Source" cords (designed for gear that draw less than 400 watts such as CD players, pre-amps and headphone amps). Wolff makes very innovative cords that perform way way above their relatively modest price tag, and just happen to compliment Rudi's amps to a "T" (shhhh... don't tell Rudi, he doesn't really approve of aftermarket power cords
). This new version comes in two flavors with different Oyaide connectors, one with gold-plated contacts, one with Rhodium. Michael likes the Rhodium Oyaides, but I'm nervous about them as Rhodium tends to make the highs a bit sting-y and white. I ordered the gold, but he sent the Rhodium along for me to compare. Will do so and post findings.
[size=small]The Stack[/size]
Here we see my heavily-modified Marantz SA-7S1 SACD/CD player, RP010B, and PS Audio Power Plant Premier power regenerator.
[size=small]Listening Impressions[/size]
Maybe some later today. As you can see, I have a lot of stuff that has no burn-in on it, so anything I post will be tentative.
Cheers.
Mark
Because I had owned the Sony R10 for years and years, going balanced was never really a feasible option (sending an irreplaceable phone like that out for surgery, no matter how minor, would give anyone pause for thought).
But now that I use a more affordable modified mass-market headphone (Denon D5000), I had no such qualms. I have no real experience with balanced headphones (or balanced anything for that matter) outside of Head-Fi meet conditions, which as always was on unfamiliar gear in a less-than-ideal environment. I have a sense of what to expect from reading this site over the years, but for all practical purposes, I'm a "balanced virgin".
Rather than being strictly a review Rudi's amazing flagship solid state behemoth, this thread will focus on my on-going impressions of balanced vs. single-ended listening, mainly so I can collect my own observations and isolate and evaluate for myself what I hear as the differences between the two.
According to Rudi, this latest RP010B does have some minor upgrades over the single-ended only RP010 I was using before, however I expect these differences to be relatively small. To read my blatherings on how great the single-ended RP010 is, you can read all about it here: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/rud...d-pics-232993/
Since it's a modular design ("quad mono"), going balanced more or less means simply adding two more modules to the basic RP010 design along with balanced ins and outs (you can see this in the pics below, note the four separate boxes). This should provide a reasonably pure apples-to-apples way to test single-ended performance vs. balanced, as switching to balanced just engages two more of the same modules. (OK, this is my layman's understanding of the design, I'm sure what's happening from an engineering standpoint is a bit more nuanced and complicated than that, but you get the basic idea.)
For this test, I have two mod-ed D5000s with Jena 22G wire and Furutech jacks, one pair single-ended and one balanced. The balanced pair is not yet broken in, so that will be a factor in the early going.
Now there are two other complications to this picture of a "perfect" test bed. From what I gather from reading some of the heated debates on these boards, the vast majority of CDPs do not really output a "pure" balanced signal. Do I know the electrical difference between a true balanced output and a "fake" one? Er, no.
My player, a Marantz SA-7S1, has been heavily modified/upgraded, and one of the mods is to replace the entire stock analog output section with Audio Consulting output transformers. They are wired at (or very near) the output of the digital section (DAC board), by-passing everything else. I am told that this approach does indeed provide a "pure" balanced output, whereas the un-mod-ed player would not do this, just like the majority of other CD players on the market. Again, I am relying on what I have been told, I am not expert enough to look at my player and the mods and to "know" if this is true. In any case, I *expect* this will give some sort of benefit in terms of being able to evaluate the efficacy of going balanced not available to most people.
Drawback #2 is that I no longer have my single-ended Virtual Dynamics Genesis ICs; had to be sacrificed to afford the RP010B
So in essence, it's probably more a test of the adavantages of balancing headphones period, rather than looking at the entire signal path per se.
*phew*, OK, how 'bout some pics already?
[size=small]RP010B with Remote[/size]
Once you have the pleasure of owning a headphone amp with remote volume control, believe me, there's no going back. I LOVE this feature. Pressing the buttons physically moves the big shiny volume pot on the front of the unit. Sweet!
[size=small]RP010B with MD5000DE[/size]
Love them Furutechs, not cheap, but incredibly well-made. Snug fit!
[size=small]RP010B Rear Panel[/size]
[size=small]RP010B Guts[/size]
Yeah, not a great exposure, but what can you do with these digital cameras? Still, you can see all the individual modules that make up the "quad-mono" design. Each module is enclosed in its own cage to isolate it electrically and prevent any nasties (EMI/RFI) from contaminating the sound.
[size=small]Virtual Dynamics Master LE Balanced IC[/size]
Yep, she's big, fat, and totally unbending and uncompromising, but she will will whip you with her tail if you dare point that out!
[size=small]New Michael Wolff Audio Source Cords[/size]
Michael Wolff is at it again. Here we have two of his latest and greatest "Source" cords (designed for gear that draw less than 400 watts such as CD players, pre-amps and headphone amps). Wolff makes very innovative cords that perform way way above their relatively modest price tag, and just happen to compliment Rudi's amps to a "T" (shhhh... don't tell Rudi, he doesn't really approve of aftermarket power cords
[size=small]The Stack[/size]
Here we see my heavily-modified Marantz SA-7S1 SACD/CD player, RP010B, and PS Audio Power Plant Premier power regenerator.
[size=small]Listening Impressions[/size]
Maybe some later today. As you can see, I have a lot of stuff that has no burn-in on it, so anything I post will be tentative.
Cheers.
Mark
