Balanced AC power question

[Speedskater]

No. Ground is actually connected to the "physical ground, i.e. dirt" in most homes in multiple places. As examples, the metal chassis of a furnace is tied to ground through the ground wire and also the gas pipe. Same with a gas stove. An electric water heater through the water pipes. This assumes metal pipe. In fact, if you have a secondary building with a sub panel it's required to have a ground rod. This panel does not have the neutral and ground connected.

Yes it is true that many objects in a home have continuity to Planet Earth.
But the ground rod must be attached at the main breaker panel.
The Safety Ground wires must be attached to the Neutral at only the main breaker panel.
Detached structures ans sub-panels have more rules.

 

[JanL]

When Equi-Tech first came on the scene back in the 90's I owned a recording studio and I had an equivalent balanced power system built by a local engineer. It was based on a military surplus AC power isolation transformer and it was hard wired to about half of my outlets in the studio. Some equipment like 9V wall warts for guitar pedals and some guitar amps did not like the balanced power and would produce loud hum. We plugged those into regular outlets.
But the rack gear and the big mixing desk definitely benefited from balanced power. The output of the mixer dropped the noise floor by at least 10dB. It was very noticeable by listening as well as by looking at the mixdown DAT machine meters. Whereas the mixer's master output background noise would typically light up the first signal LED on the input meter, after the balanced power was wired in, the meter was perfectly dark with the master fader up and a bunch of channels on.
Balanced power for old school analog audio is definitely beneficial. Modern digital devices with switching power supplies and advanced voltage regulators most likely don't care.