restorer-john
Grand Contributor
On professional gear, genuine balanced output was either fully floating transformer-type or active servo-balanced which then gives the same output voltage regardless of how it is connected.
1:1 transformers with 600R output impedance. Output levels the same for single ended or balanced. That was the professional standard until silly home HiFi audiophools decided they 'must have' XLRs on their gear to make them feel like 'pros' and the cheapest way to do that, was to strap on an inverting unity gain opamp and call the source 'balanced'. Consequently, the output level doubled for no good reason.
And we all know, lifting the voltage up another 2V will buy some 'free' S/N.