I wouldn't get too hung up on balanced vs. unbalanced. Balanced amps have generally sounded better to me, but that may be because they're higher end amps. The Schiit DAC is the Gungnir--high-end DACs have balanced outputs. I haven't heard the NA7004, but I'm very familiar with the Gungnir>Mjolnir>LCD-X. If you get the Mjolnir and the LCD-X sounds very smooth, no grain, has great dynamics, a large soundstage, but a lean signature overall (mids a touch thin)--your DAC should be delivering something close to the Gungnir. If you hear any graininess or etch, especially in the treble, or a smallish soundstage--then you may benefit from a better DAC.
+1
Normally when people ask what to buy in a certain price bracket I just tell them to get the best SE system you can get for that money and forget about balanced until you get into the
really expensive stuff.
The Mjolnir is kind of a special case since it's made to balanced only and hit a sweet spot in terms of price. You'd probably pay +$1000 if it had both outputs.
Balanced cables and ground does make a lot of sense for profesional and studio use since it's very good for noise and interference reduction. For headphone amps the biggest difference between balanced and single ended is that balanced does not share a common ground for the left and right channel.
So balanced drive will give you 100% separation between left and right, or at least in theory.
It can get a little confusing though since while it's true that "balanced amps" don't have a common ground what actually is happening i that they are push-pull configurations. So you have one part of the circuit feeding the current and another part of the circuit sucking it up (instead of just dumping to ground). So essentially most headphone amps sold as balanced are actually push-pull amps and have more or less twice the amount components inside, and also twice the amount of power compared to their single ended brethren.
Is it worth it? Hmmm... like i said.... a $1000 SE amp will typically beat a $1000 balanced amp simply because the SE has less parts and those parts can then be of better quality. But the Mjolnir is kind of a special case.
There can be advantages to driving headphones balanced but for home use the advantages of having a balanced DAC and AMP connection are very, very few. It might even be disadvantageous in some case!
You'll see some very high end amps that have balanced output put only SE inputs. The DNA Stratus springs to mind but I'm sure there are many more. Donald has said that he sees no need for balanced inputs and I can see where he's coming from. I think many will be confused by the lack of balanced inputs on a balanced amp but there really is no need. It's a perfectly reasonable and good circuit design!
For the record: the term "fully balanced amplifier" is a term that only exists in the audiophile world I believe. The correct term for something like the mjolnir would probably be something like "dual-closed-circuit-push-pull-amplifier", or "dual-ground-isolated-differential-amp". Or something along those lines, I guess "fully balanced" just sounds sexier
Seriously amazing headphones.. For me to get rid of these, take em from my dying clutches
can't wait to amp them properly..
Sold! Where are you located?
