[bgpolyhistor]

Is there a particular type of headphone or IEM that gains audible improvements with a balanced cable and output?

I’m looking for a rule of thumb- for example- “High impedance full size headphones benefit more from balanced drive than sensitive IEM’s.”
(I don’t actually know if this is true- just an example).

 

[silent-circuit]

Extremely sensitive headphones and IEMs can benefit from the reduced cross talk and lower noise floor / distortion that often comes with a fully balanced input chain -- DAC, amp, headphones.

Higher impedance, less efficient headphones can also benefit as many (though not all) amps put out roughly twice as much power when run balanced.

It's kind of a "on either extreme" situation.

 

[tomb]

Extremely sensitive headphones and IEMs can benefit from the reduced cross talk and lower noise floor / distortion that often comes with a fully balanced input chain -- DAC, amp, headphones.

Higher impedance, less efficient headphones can also benefit as many (though not all) amps put out roughly twice as much power when run balanced.

It's kind of a "on either extreme" situation.

Good Answer!

If I might add, it's actually the voltage swing that's doubled with differential circuitry. That's why high impedance headphones benefit. However, an amp that has sufficient voltage swing in the first place can be just as advantageous. I believe it was Tyll Herstens who originally brought differential headphone amplifiers to the market. In the beginning, this was a good way to increase the voltage swing in solid-state amplifiers without re-designing the power supplies.

Differential circuitry also brings another advantage: cancellation of common mode distortion/noise. This is where the reduced "crosstalk" and lower noise floor comes in. Common-mode noise is the noise that inevitably results from current leakage between channels due to small capacitances or magnetic fluxes that are present to one degree or another in electronic parts and circuit paths.