The benifits of running a Balanced system.

dc55110 · February 2010

It is time to finally upgrade the weakest link in my set-up, my preamp. In this case it's an old Denon AVR in bypass mode(direct mode these days) . Both my DAC (Theta DS Pro Basic IIIa) and my amp (White Audio Labs B1) are balanced designs (as far as I know, as I'm not the original owner and cannot find much info on the designs of either components). My current budget is about $600 for a new pre, but after looking around for a while most pre's in that price range that have balance in/out-puts are not truly balanced, balanced in/out-put connected to a single ended line.
Would it behoove me to save a while longer and maybe double my price range? Ideas? Suggestions? Or should I not even worry about going with a balanced system and focus my attention elsewhere?

organ · February 2010

I think it really depends on the gear. A bad circuit with balanced ins and outs will not sound as good as a good one with rca's.

Just go for whatever pre sounds best to you (balanced or unbalanced). Or are your other equipments balanced only with no rca's?

Ricardo · February 2010

You can try the Marsh balanced preamp; you can find them within your budget used.

pearsall001 · February 2010

Balanced is generally recommended for long runs. And don't forget that balanced connections usually add about 3db of gain which must be taken into consideration when doing comparison listening. At a 3db gain you will always preceive that to sound better. Level matching is key to get a fair comparison.