[Staxi]

Interested to hear about experience running this with RCA versus XLR. Any big difference and if so what is the preference?

 

[n3rdling]

Volume

 

[Staxi]

Volume ?????

 

[bcg27]

Yes. Single ended input will give you half the voltage swing on the amp, which corresponds to a 6 dB decrease in output. Supposedly ~10 dB drop in output equates to half volume, so 6 dB will be somewhere near midway between half volume and full volume from the balanced connections. 

 

[Mossback]

Quote:

Interested to hear about experience running this with RCA versus XLR. Any big difference and if so what is the preference?

i have this combo. as it is very highly resolving, the primary issue is what is your source optimized for......as you will hear that issue clearly.
 
almost all high end sources and preamps sound best single ended.....thru RCA's. balanced outputs are mostly implimented with transformers which get in the way of signal purity, the kind of thing that the SRM-717 and O2 are best at telling you.
 
if you have long cable runs XLR/balanced run can make sense as it can lower noise......over 6 feet say. sure; you do get the gain boost from the transformer but also the added noise of that too.
 
i'd just listen both ways and trust your ears.
 
 

 

[Staxi]

Mossback - thank and source is Cyrus cd8x through a Cyrus DAC-XP. No need for cable length in excess of 1m and thus understand that recommendation is for RCA.   Brgds

 

[sachu]

The combination is an acceptable solution. Not my flavor mind you (the SRM-717 that is, heard mossback's particular combo too in fact in addition to a local HFier's), but probably the best choice without going into several thousand for a proper amp deserving of the O2.