I ordered a JDS Labs Element II but now I am kinda regretting not ordering this with a AAA 789. I can’t return the Element as it has a custom engraving (oops) so I am going to take some sort of hit $100-200 Canadian I man guessing. Are balanced outputs going to really make a difference when I mainly have aac files and some apple lossless from years ago? I guess also eliminating potential ground loop is another’s benefit? Other then that it’s gaming. Headphones are 660s currently.
The only inherently better things that balanced xlr outputs offer are the elimination of group loops and extra power over rca. Balanced doesn't necessarily offer better performance than single ended it depends on the dacs and amps being used.
The thx 789 amp for instance is not a true differential amplifier, so in terms of sound quality its outputs are identical, you just get more power via xlr.
The reason why people are interested in running the Modius specifically balanced is that it has a totally different output stage for its balanced and single ended outputs as Kumar402 said , so its almost like getting two dacs in one. Some people may think one output sounds better than the other. But this is because of the modius not the inherent nature of balanced if this makes sense.
The thx 789 and modius is a really interesting combo because you could use it both single ended and balanced and see which sounds better to you. I guess that some will actually prefer the SE out of the modius.
Also the file type of your music doesn't make much if any difference in your perception of differences imo, you don't need to use hi res stuff. I listen to cd quality flac 98% of the time. It is possible that if you have some real crap mp3s, they might sound extra crap on a really revealing setup but that would be the only concern in my experience.
I wouldn't feel too bad about buying a element ii, it looks to be a pretty great dac/amp combo. The biggest problem with the original element imo was that the dac was rather mediocre, the ii has a much better dac imo. It is a nice solution for saving desk space for sure and the custom engravings are cool
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It is very easy to give yourself endless panic attacks in this hobby thinking you should have gone a different way, I learned that you are much better off thinking of things in terms of difference rather than superiority.
Just know that you are getting a different experience with the element ii rather than strictly inferior one, its entirely possible that you would prefer the element if you were to compare it directly to the thx/modius combo.
