Bryston 4BSST2 - Balanced vs. Single Ended

[JazzyG]

I have a Bryston 4BSST2 driving a pair of PMC Twenty23, front end is a current spec Linn Akurate DSM (Katalyst).  I had been using an older Audioquest Diamond (first gen) between the DSM and the amp.  I knew both had balanced options, but for some reason when I looked at the connections on the amp they don't look like regular XLR so I went with the RCAs.  I was playing around with a sub and wanted to switch to XLR and use the RCAs for the sub, and voila the XLRs slipped right in.  I am using a short run of DH Labs Silver Sonic BL-1 with Neutrik XX series terminations.  I was shocked at the difference when I fired it up, more punch, dynamics and immediacy!  

Anybody else done this XLR vs RCA comparison, what were your results? 

I have a 3 meter piece of Wireworld Polaris 5 that I recently picked up cheap, bad ends.  I just ordered some Neutrik 14 series for those, want to cut it in half and make a pair to try that out and see what that sounds like!  Anybody have experience with the Wireworld cable?

 

[Fourlegs]

Are you really really sure the volume was the same? I’m not being cynical but just making sure that the balanced input hadn’t just made the amp louder and hence with more punch etc? (I’m not against xlr inputs by the way and use that into my Pass Labs but then they are configured internally to run in true balanced mode).

Sorry, no experience of Wireworld. I use cheap Belden 8760 Equivalent balanced cable which I prefer to anything else.

 

[uzzy]

It is hard to give a definitive answer.  In my time of roadying and playing in bands XLR connectors came about for low impedance microphones and long cables.  Previously jack connectors and long leads meant noise (tap your foot on the mic cable resulted in a click through the PA) - Then with mixing desks being moved to the middle or the back of the hall you were playing in resulted in XLR interconnects from the preamp to the power amps behind the loudspeakers on stage  the reason being long cables with Jack connectors were noisy.   However for a small gig in a pub - where the mixer was on stage and all the leads were short - unbalanced connections were the order of the day as there was no noise and there was always spare jack leads (box full of them for the guitarists).

So in the hifi environment with shortish cable lengths will XLR balanced connection make a difference to the sound?  Well in some preamps the output from the balanced connection is different to the RCA and similarly with the amps that have both XLR and RCA again some have different sensitivity between each - and so doing a direct comparison of RCA to XLR becomes difficult as changing the leads and operation leads to a change in volume levels - and there lies the rub - if you cannot switch to exactly the same volume level it is virtually impossible to ascertain if one is better than the other.

If I had XLR inputs I would use them as they  just provide a more solid connection - harder to pull out and harder to damage easier to wire up etc etc.. a bit like Naim using din plugs many years ago which according to them gave a superior connection which may have been true but if they had done it properly they would have done it with balanced connection and not bloody din plugs (awful things that they are) .   

 

[huwge]

I have the same amp driving Obelisks and use a Klimax DS as source.

I’ve played around with XLR v phono though not fora few years now, nothing in it really as I recall.

I’ve stuck with XLR largely for the reasons above.

 

[JazzyG]

You know what, I think you are right about the levels.  The XLR is coming through louder, hence the more visceral and dynamic presentation at the same level indicator on the dial.

 

[PhotoMax]

I own this amp (currently not in use).  I fiddled with cables and connections and purchased balanced Transparent XLR (short) and never looked back.

 

[Nopiano]

You know what, I think you are right about the levels.  The XLR is coming through louder, hence the more visceral and dynamic presentation at the same level indicator on the dial.

Yes, @Fourlegs is right.  I did the same with my ADSM, moving from photos to balanced, but to compensate I adjusted down the input sensitivity on my Primare amp.  It’s twice the output, 4 Volts versus 2 Volts!