[Jalo]

Saintkeat and Parrots:  I have the Protector and the sr71b.  They are the classic example to your questions, SE vs balance input with balance output.  I also have the DB1 and have been using full balance input to balance output.  To me the difference is noticeable.  Actually Jamato said it pretty good, fast impact and better sound stage.  The increase in power output also help.  It does increase the sense of in vivo and makes the music sounds more personal.  At least to me, after I got used to balance, I feel like I want something more whenever I listen to se.  The SR71b is a very good amp to play with the difference because it offers both balance and SE input and output.  IF you read the Protector thread and Skylab review you will see more description of the difference between balance and SE.  Saintkeat, if you are making the balance cable DIY, make sure the wires are connected accurately.  I have not tried th PB1/2 so I cannot comment on it.  But on SR71b  the difference is clearly there.

 

[Saintkeat]

if they weren't connected carefully the cable would short or there will be an obvious tonal imbalance. perhaps my ears don't fancy silver plated copper, i'll be receiving a shipment of 4N silver, will be using that to reassemble the cable and see if the sound quality becomes favourable. to be honest, the only person who can give an unbiased fair opinion on whether theres a significant improvement from SE vs Balanced for IEMs is someone who has 2 almost completely identical cables using the same rig. so it'll be 2 cables later before i post some proper fair impressions. in fact, i think parrots has all the materials to pull it off faster than i can lol
 

 

[dinkoy]

Anybody tried pairing the PB2 with the HE-5LE?

 

[Gorthon]

Quote:

if they weren't connected carefully the cable would short or there will be an obvious tonal imbalance. perhaps my ears don't fancy silver plated copper, i'll be receiving a shipment of 4N silver, will be using that to reassemble the cable and see if the sound quality becomes favourable. to be honest, the only person who can give an unbiased fair opinion on whether theres a significant improvement from SE vs Balanced for IEMs is someone who has 2 almost completely identical cables using the same rig. so it'll be 2 cables later before i post some proper fair impressions. in fact, i think parrots has all the materials to pull it off faster than i can lol
 

You could also end up with the Right and Left channels "Out Of Phase" with each other by swapping the Hot and Cold wire of one of the channels.  The headphones will work, but the sound will be off.
 

 
 

 

[Saintkeat]

I didn't say they sounded worst than single end. Is it so hard to accept that it isn't night and day difference with custom iems? I think full size headphones would show a clearer difference.

This is the part I don't like about hype, when someone offers honest critical feedback it gets shot down simply because it doesn't agree with the hype. It's time we get real and acknowledge the law of diminishing returns. Believe the hype all you want, I'm going into things with an open mind, and this thread WILL hear from me again when I explore the realistic improvements of going balanced from an UNbalanced source.

 

[Jalo]

Quote:

if they weren't connected carefully the cable would short or there will be an obvious tonal imbalance. perhaps my ears don't fancy silver plated copper, i'll be receiving a shipment of 4N silver, will be using that to reassemble the cable and see if the sound quality becomes favourable. to be honest, the only person who can give an unbiased fair opinion on whether theres a significant improvement from SE vs Balanced for IEMs is someone who has 2 almost completely identical cables using the same rig. so it'll be 2 cables later before i post some proper fair impressions. in fact, i think parrots has all the materials to pull it off faster than i can lol
 

Saintkeat, you really don't need two cables, all you need is one cable terminated in balance and get an adaptor from balance to SE then you pretty much can try out the two connection with very little change to the sound signature.  This is specially true if you use the same wire to built the adaptor.
 

 

[Saintkeat]

creating an adapter adds resistance that could affect the sound quality. and if i'm going to do this right i can't let that affect it.
 
from a design point of view, having 2 heavy hirose plugs (male+female) would cause unnecessary stress on the 3.5mm plug, heck even the hirose plug joints would be stressed. unless the cable isn't portable then there isn't a problem.
 
i'm waiting on Parrots to post his opinions, like i said, he has the materials to get it done way faster than me.

 

[AVU]

Of course, the reviewer at Headphonia found the JH13s worse when balanced with either the Ibasso or the RSA balanced then single ended, all things considered, finding that balanced gave greater separation and bass emphasis, but  at the cost of "inaccurate imaging and the lack of a proper center image," less articulate, and a worse better overall texture. He states that proper balanced amps require a large amount of space, and the idea of making a portable balanced amp is necessarily a great compromise.

 

[jamato8]

I doubt you could even measure the resistance of an adapter. I use one all the time if I want to go single ended. There is no real strain problem and this is with many different headphones and setups. 

 

[Saintkeat]

Hmmmm ok I wouldnt mind giving it a shot. Did you use the female plug or just the socket? Could you post a pic of your adapter?

This actually benefits me since I'll cause less wear on the custom sockets.

And I just read headfonia's multi amp review where he gave his impressions on going balanced. Anyone else with similar observations?

 

[Saintkeat]

Cheers Parrots. thats excellent.
 
and even better thanks for including what you heard from the adapter, as such I'm going to make 2 seperate cables instead.
 
which 3.5mm plug did you use for your adapter though?

 

[Saintkeat]

hmmmmm thanks again.. I'll put some thought into it..
 
any tonal inaccuracy like headfonia mentioned?

 

[Saintkeat]

ah sorry mate didn't mean to put you in a spot. important thing is you felt that balanced sounded better than single ended. that confirmation is great! and heres the link: http://www.headfonia.com/the-usual-suspects-12-portable-amps-compared/
 

 

[Boringz]

thinking of getting the pb2 for my ipod classic, would there be a need to custom a set of LOD - Hirosa plug balanced cable (if yes, what's the pin out like?) or the regular mini - LOD will work? I intend to balanced my HD600 cables too. 

 

[Nachkebia]

How does this compare to PB-1? I want small and light balanced amp, I should go for PB-1 right?