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Balanced IEM output on DAC = better audio quality?

greyscale

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Have been looking for a dac with balanced headphone/iem output. However, does balanced mean higher quality sound for short (6ft) distance between iem to dac?
 

Vincent Kars

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This has nothing to do with distance or balanced
Normally you connect with a jack hence a common ground for both channels and separate "hot" for L and R
What they call a balanced connection in the headphone world is a seperate grond for L and R and seperate L/R signal
This is exactly the same way one connect speakers to an amp.
Nothing balanced about this connection
It does allow for amps with seperate "grounds" for L/R however.
 

twsecrest

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Have been looking for a dac with balanced headphone/iem output. However, does balanced mean higher quality sound for short (6ft) distance between iem to dac?
Is this for a DAC (DAC/amp) for use with a computer or smartphone or other?
 

JJB70

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The only real advantage I can see for balanced headphones is that if you you like ear destroying volume or have a slightly anaemic amplifier then a balanced output gives you a boost in output relative to the standard output. An alternative is to try noise cancelling headphones or high noise isolation IEMs which can allow you to listen at lower volumes and still find volume to be good which is better for your hearing. I am currently using very high isolation IEMs as my main listening tool and it is surprising how much difference it makes.
 
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greyscale

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Will be feeding from a Allo Digione Sig. to perhaps a RME ADI dac. My Senn ie 800 s have both a 4.4 mm Pentaconn and 2.5 mm balanced connectors which I would like to use.
 

eliash

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Have been looking for a dac with balanced headphone/iem output. However, does balanced mean higher quality sound for short (6ft) distance between iem to dac?

Yes, according to my practical experience with IEMs, the wiring makes a big difference in performance!
I had a pair with a shared ground wire up to the left/right cable break-up of the cable.
Especially two-way IEMs with capacitive tweeter decoupling cause severe impedance drops when the cap and the tweeter coil inductance form a series resonance. We are talking about few ohms in the audible range (see below). Combined with poor material match (ongoing corrosion, caused by sweat and salts on the un-protected jack) of the typical 3 pole 3.5mm jack connection and the shared thin ground wire build up a significant resistance on the ground line.
This will lead to a completely destroyed channel separation, before you notice any change in frequency resonse.
For the below IEM I was at least able to aquire a completely ground-separated cable, from the unavoidable (awful) 3.5mm jack onwards...
What I have written here is also quite relevant, if you should use extension cables with shared ground (e.g. with 3 pole 3.5mm in/out).


an old example:
UltimateEars Super.fi 5 pro

app. Impedance (Ohms)

20Hz 20
1KHz 130
11KHz 7 (resonance peak)
20KHz 12
 

solderdude

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Indeed there is a difference between balanced wiring and ordinary 3 pin wiring.

One reason is you get double the output voltage which could be important when driving high impedance headphones (300 Ohm to 600 Ohm) as you get 6dB more output this way.
For headphones with an impedance below 32 Ohm the extra volume gain could be less (depends on the device and headphone impedance)

When you have headphones with 4 wires inside (can't always tell from the outside of the cable) that are connected in the 3.5mm plug then the only benefit would be the extra gain.
The case described by @eliash above is valid when for some reason the iem (which is dual entry by definition) could have a cable where the common wire of both earpieces is somehow joined and the joined cable goes to the 3.5mm TRS plug.
This is an unlikely config but when the vendor only has 2 and 3 wire cabling he could opt for that.
In this case the common wire is the culprit and 'changes' the stereo image for certain frequencies.

The IEM wires are usually very thin and could have a substantial resistance compared to the earphone itself

In the example above the 7 Ohm value is very low and depending on how good the 'sleeve' contact and circuit board inside the device used is it is not unlikely that that resistance could produce audible effects.

In this case balanced most certianly is benefical for this aspect but you probably won't enjoy a higher output power (which isn't needed here anyway).


So the answer is .. yes, it could make a difference, but most likely not with the ie 800 as this has a constant impedance of around 12 Ohm.
In case of the example and when using higher impedance headphones it will be beneficial.

I see no reason not to use the balanced out but it may not be very audible in this case.
 

garbulky

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Emotiva is working on a balanced class A headphone amplifier. Hopefully it will come out this year. Looking forward to it.
 
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greyscale

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Thanks all.
 
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