[MandolinRob]

Firstly thanks for all the community help on here in making my decisions entering the audiophile world.

I had my ear impressions made today and am pairing some CIEM Roxanne's with an AK SR15 to replace my old separates and speakers and crappy in ears.

Should I fork out the extra £150 for the balanced cable? (Has to be the JH Audio one as it has the Bass attenuation built in-line and the 4 pin screw connectors.) Iv'e read a lot about the balanced out giving a larger soundstage and possibly better instrument separation?

Also which CD ripper to get for my mac. Need to Rip over 900 CD's as I'm thinking Flac? and the Astell and Kern one seems crazy money. What do people use?

Thanks,

Rob

 

[Mhog55]

No comment regarding the balance circuit. Only you can decide to take the gamble and then decide if it's worth it or not. If I can find a balanced cable for 50 bucks or less, I'll grab it. From my experience, dishing out more than that I don't feel like I'm getting a fair return on my investment. Like with anything, there becomes a point of diminishing returns. But, at the end of the day, only we can decide how badly we think we need it, and if the juice is worth the squeeze.
As for the CD ripper, check out EZ CD audio converter. It offers a 30 day free trial, and I think it's like 40 buck to purchase. I've used 3 or 4 rippers and convertors now, but decided to stick with this one. It's simple, fast, and does a really good job.

 

[yong_shun]

I think it is worth to upgrade to balanced cable. Like what you mentioned, I experienced better soundstage and separation when I change my cable to balance.

For ripper, since you have AK player, it will be convenient for you to get AK ripper because it can rip directly to your music player. However, the price is really crazy.

 

[kukkurovaca]

Re: balanced, whether it's worth a given expense is highly subjective. Generally expect quite subtle changes unless the source device is designed such that one of the outputs is at a disadvantage. Soundstage may be slightly widened due to increased channel separation. But that effect isn't even always beneficial; it may negatively impact center image. But if you've got a balanced source, it's nice to have balanced cabling as an option so you can experiment.

The one case where balanced is a guaranteed benefit is when your source has a single-ended output which does not have enough power for your headphones, and a balanced output which does have enough power. : )

If you have any less expensive IEMs with regular MMCX or 2-pin connectrs, I'd say get a $20 balanced cable for those first to try, and if you like it, then spring for the JH cable.

But I don't have experience with either JH or AK, so grains of salt etc.