[jaywillin]

having become a new LCD2.2 owner, i'm now curious about the virtues of going balanced.
i've been doing a lot of reading, and i'm still a bit confused on one main point.
regarding a balanced headphone amp that has balanced pre-outs , my powered speakers
are psb ps1's which are single ended, do i have to get rid of them, and get monitors that accept
balanced inputs ??

 

[fabio-fi]

Each design have it's own advantages and disadvantages. 
Generally speaking, balanced setups have lower noise (better shielding) and a few guys also say that sounds better. This will depend on the design IMO. SE done right can sound as good as balanced. 
 
I'll quote some of the points the people from lampizator made:
 

For normal mode of hi fi use - we have the products stacked in the rack, the cables are short, and we don't plug cables in play mode. So the need of balanced is questionable.

Some of the best products in existence, like Audio Note, Kondo, Air Tight, Verdier, Jadis, etc. - are mostly single ended. 

Knowing the balanced construction - we can assume that for equally well made products - the Balanced must cost double. The mode of operation makes sense, it promises good quality, but is it better than SE if SE could cost twice as much per phase ? 
That is the key. A 2000 Eu Balanced amp has the construction for 500 Eu per phase. Does the balancing improve it as much to beat the 2000 Eu single ended amp which phase costs 1000 Eu ?

If you ask me - SE is the way to go. I mean - good SE.

 
Full article:
http://lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/Balancedornot.html