What are the benefit of Balance?

[bigshot]

Woof! Hopefully that sort of thing will eventually go extinct with the dinosaurs!

 

[jagwap]

Yes. In fixed point the maximum possible value is all the bits set to “1” (0dBFS), so any part of a signal that tries to exceed that value is set to the same all “1s” state and is clipped/lost. In floating point, the decimal point is movable because a number of bits are used to encode the exponent, so the maximum value is theoretically something like +1500dBFS. Of course, at some stage we’ve got to write a 24 or 16bit (fixed) audio file or convert the signal in a DAC and again cannot exceed 0dBFS. The practical difference between fixed and floating point in mixing/mastering is that floating point allows us to recover a signal that has exceeded 0dBFS, fixed point doesn’t, it’s gone forever.

Correct.

Yes, I vaguely remember that term. If I remember correctly, “burn in” was a metaphor for overloading/saturating analogue tape.

That is correct.

Actually it’s very common, not in the digital bounce down of course but in the B-Chain (monitoring chain), where EQ (room) correction is typically applied. This EQ must either be applied subtractively or the signal must be attenuated prior to the EQ.

Yep, time is money and miscommunication can cost a great deal of it. So we need precise common terminology, not just between engineers but also between producer and engineers. Same is true for pro musicians, conductors and producers. It’s possible that’s the case here (with @jagwap). For example, “headroom” is that portion at the top of the dynamic range which is not used. Once you do use it (have some signal in that portion), by definition it is no longer headroom.

The only reason you gave in your first post for why pro-audio line level is so much higher was to avoid compression of unpredictable live signals by typically allowing 16-20dB of headroom. This is not really correct, as I explained in my first response. You are ignoring, amongst other things (such as when in the chain the signal is no longer unpredictable), that pro-audio line level predates digital and 16-20dB headroom is only applicable to 24bit digital recording, not to the original 16bit. Pro-audio line level is about SNR and therefore dynamic range, not headroom.

G

Balanced does not intinsically have higher dynamic range than single ended. For the same sized signal the 2 outputs add at least 3dB noise, all else being equal, often more. If this is lower than the noise further up the path, like the DAC residual noise, then it may not show up.

Balanced can be quieter in badly set up systems, and long cable runs, because the of CMRR of the recieving end is helping remove picked up interference, and also because of the pin 1 taking on the job of dumping unwanted earth currents between units. I said this before.

Oh, and when we are designing the gear, headroom is the spare we allow above reference so you guys can have some spare if things go astray. If you use it, you can call it what you want. It doesn't change the fact that it is headroom above reference in the design.

Consumer also needs headroom, but these days it is only really for phono stages. They need plenty so they can ideally remain unclipped during warps, clicks and scratches. These are tricky, and I recommend we don't go down that path here. Interestingly phono pickups are the only natural balanced sources in consumer, and more phono stages should be balanced input.