Help help. Used a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter on my pioneer xdp300. That player had balanced output via 2.5 output. My regular single ended headphones worked just fine. Much louder. My new DAP Hiby R5 has 4.4 balanced output and using an adapter it clips and distorts at higher volume with my ATH-M50 cans. Needless to say I stopped using the adapter. Is there an adapter that will work? All these new players today always offer stronger output via balanced. Hate that. Or should I just buy a new set of balanced cans. Am i missing something or just got lucky using adapter on my old DAP.
Balanced out Help!
- Thread starter gasnets
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kukkurovaca
1000+ Head-Fier
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Unless the player or amp manual or manufacturer EXPLICITLY tells you that it's okay, you should not attempt to plug single-ended headphones into a balanced output. You can fry your device that way.
ProtegeManiac
Headphoneus Supremus
The headphones need to be wired for balanced operation with separate L- and R- instead of just an adapter. The adapter there has that but your M50 only has three wires coming from its 3.5mm plug to the left earcup.
I get the common ground on single ended headphones. But an adapter on my last player worked. After some research i know why. Pioneer and its sister player Onkyo have something called (Active Control Ground) ACG built into there balanced output. My new player Hiby R5 has no such feature. Thats why an adapter wont work and in fact can be harmful.
Which now begs the question, why not have same power on both balanced and single ended. Every players Balanced output is always stronger. Why?
surfgeorge
Member of the Trade: 3D Printed Accessory Designer
Oversimplified, in SE the player is only driving the signal in one wire, the other is at 0, the ground.
In balanced, the player is creatign opposing signals in both wires, doubling the voltage difference between the wires.
You'd have to double the voltage range on SE compared to balanced to achieve the same power.
This is a gross simplification but illustrates the issue.
ProtegeManiac
Headphoneus Supremus
Single Ended:
1. AWD with one internal combustion engine distributing torque to four wheels
2. F-16
Balanced Drive:
1. Tesla with one front engine distributing torque via something like an LSD (on conventional cars) between two front wheels and one rear engine distributing torque between two rear wheels.
2. F-15
Note this comparison is when you're given comparable ie the same circuit that can run in both configs. If you build up a single ended amp enough it can match output power, but then it's an entirely different circuit. Think of it like if a car company just makes a new block and crankshaft but essentially making a V8 out of an existing inline four engine (two of them) and then making cams to make it run like a V8 as opposed to just making a new V12 from the ground up.
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