[artazzzzzz]

Hello everyone,

I'm planning on getting a pair of LCD-2 rev.2 with a balanced cable with a 4 pin XLR plug. Now I am slightly confused about what a balanced setup looks like. For a DAC I would have the Asus Xonar Essence STX's DAC. I don't have enough money for a proper dedicated DAC at the moment.

If I purchased v181 and used its balanced outputs, would that give me a true balanced sound (considering my DAC), or the source has to be balanced as well? If that's not the case then unbalanced SQ wise, which would be the better option, v200 or v181?

 

[Jd007]

for true fully balanced setup you need fully balanced source -> dual 3-pin xlr -> fully balanced headamp -> dual 3-pin or single 4-pin xlr -> headphones. so if you use an essence STX, it wouldn't be true full balanced. there are amps that will take single ended input and convert/split it into balanced signals (eg schiit mjolnir), but that is not truly balanced unless you feed it balanced signal from a balanced dac.
 
in addition, v200 amp has balanced input but no balanced headphone out while v181 is truly balanced has both.

 

[artazzzzzz]

  for true fully balanced setup you need fully balanced source -> dual 3-pin xlr -> fully balanced headamp -> dual 3-pin or single 4-pin xlr -> headphones. so if you use an essence STX, it wouldn't be true full balanced. there are amps that will take single ended input and convert/split it into balanced signals (eg schiit mjolnir), but that is not truly balanced unless you feed it balanced signal from a balanced dac.
 
in addition, v200 amp has balanced input but no balanced headphone out while v181 is truly balanced has both.

Thanks for the swift reply! How does a balanced v181 compare to unbalanced v200?

 

[Jd007]

  Thanks for the swift reply! How does a balanced v181 compare to unbalanced v200?

i dont know because i've never heard the v181 before. i did own the v200 but only ran it in a single ended setup, and not with the lcd2

 

[artazzzzzz]

  i dont know because i've never heard the v181 before. i did own the v200 but only ran it in a single ended setup, and not with the lcd2

Well then, still thank you for your input!

Waiting for more opinions.