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Balanced vs unbalanced

The angle is almost negligible. It would be comparing to speakers from the sides of the head to 2 speakers a few degrees more forward. Still on the side of the head and far removed from sounds coming from the front. When you look at measurements of HATS with the response plotted at different angles you will see there is very little difference there.
That, however, is not the same as a driver being close to the ear. Drivers have a different response from the middle and towards the edge (when measured up close) and positioning is more important than an angle being slightly different.
So this is a complex thing not easily measured nor captured in numbers or visualizations.


Plenty of research is done on this. Variations can be up to 20dB (narrow band) above several kHz.
The whole 'soundstage, depth and imaging' is very individual dependent and the combination of headphone/fit/interaction.
There is no way you can capture this in a number, plot or visualization that will be correct for the majority of people (think Harman target for tonality)



All drivers are balanced in operation. It is only about the voltage across the driver. Differential drive or not does not matter at all as the voltage across the driver is the same.
So IF there are actual differences they would have to come from an increased output resistance (it is always double in differential mode) or it has to do with 3-wire versus 4 wire.
There could be situations where the common (ground = sleeve) connection in the amp itself has an unusual high (think several ohms) between the sleeve contact and the reference (common/signal ground) combined with low impedance headphones.
With most amps the sleeve connects directly to a ground plane though.
There is no magic or special something between differential and SE drive that is so different that it would not affect tone or stereo effects but only imaging.
Of course, a 6dB level difference (double the voltage) when switching between a SE and balanced output can bring effects that would be really hard to ignore unless one also lowers the level exactly 6dB when switching between the 2 outputs. When the 'balanced connector' is just for convenience a direct comparison would make more sense and would be easier to do.
Or you should be able to separate that single aspect and be able to tie that to the actual signal that is very different.

Thanks for the answers, I got few new more notions.

Just about the volume, the increased 6db is too much of a difference, and I think the first thing to do when comparing is matching the output.
But it's not how I intend to test, since I care about diffenrences only noticable during a normal relaxed session where I can raise or drop the volume on different songs to my usual listening volume.

Anyway isn't there a possibility (probably related the increased output res and the 4 wire) that the higher output voltage may help piloting the transducers for high variable impedance headphones?
 
Anyway isn't there a possibility (probably related the increased output res and the 4 wire) that the higher output voltage may help piloting the transducers for high variable impedance headphones?

There is nothing to 'pilot'.

When the 6B difference in level is not present the voltages and currents are exactly the same.
The drivers are always balanced in operation regardless if one of the ends is referenced to ground or not.
The variance of impedance has no other influence other than drawing less current. Actually it isn't even that it technically is a counter EMF that generates a current in the opposite direction of the supplied one that are simply subtracted from each other while the applied voltage remains the same effectively lowering the drawn current and seemingly increasing the impedance.

An amplifier only provides a voltage. There is no difference whether or not this is created opposite a reference (0V) or opposite another voltage.
Besides... if it were impedance dependent balanced would not 'work' the way you think it does with planar dynamics nor with quite a few dynamics.

The only benefit of balanced drive is a higher possible max. output voltage where a power supply voltage imposes a limit.
The benefit of 4 wire over 3 wire is the most important aspect.
The common return wire which affects stereo effects/crosstalk is simply not present in a 4 wire solution.

The point is that even a TRS jack (which by definition has 1 combined reference) can still make perfect use of a 4 wire 'solution' even when the headphone itself has a single side entry. As long as that has 4 connections on the headphone side it will work just as effectively as a differential drive.
This is because the drivers are inherently 'balanced' in operation.
 
There is nothing to 'pilot'.

When the 6B difference in level is not present the voltages and currents are exactly the same.
The drivers are always balanced in operation regardless if one of the ends is referenced to ground or not.
The variance of impedance has no other influence other than drawing less current. Actually it isn't even that it technically is a counter EMF that generates a current in the opposite direction of the supplied one that are simply subtracted from each other while the applied voltage remains the same effectively lowering the drawn current and seemingly increasing the impedance.

An amplifier only provides a voltage. There is no difference whether or not this is created opposite a reference (0V) or opposite another voltage.
Besides... if it were impedance dependent balanced would not 'work' the way you think it does with planar dynamics nor with quite a few dynamics.

The only benefit of balanced drive is a higher possible max. output voltage where a power supply voltage imposes a limit.
The benefit of 4 wire over 3 wire is the most important aspect.
The common return wire which affects stereo effects/crosstalk is simply not present in a 4 wire solution.

The point is that even a TRS jack (which by definition has 1 combined reference) can still make perfect use of a 4 wire 'solution' even when the headphone itself has a single side entry. As long as that has 4 connections on the headphone side it will work just as effectively as a differential drive.
This is because the drivers are inherently 'balanced' in operation.
thanks again for the explanation ;)
 
Just adding my 2 ¢ to the topic. I arrived late to the balanced world (I do have an RME ADI-2 DAC FS which is connected via balanced XLR to an Accuphase E-250 (has balanced inputs but it isn't implemented), so I wasn't profiting from it), but with my E-350 purchase, the difference has been night and day.

In my E-350 setup, I do have long cable runs: I have a PC & DAC in a cabinet, and the cables in use are about 5m in length.

The most surprising was the Lyngdorf CD-2 → E-350 connection, a shorter cable run of about 30cm. With unbalanced RCA, I had this nasty HF whine at high gains. It's completely gone with balanced XLR connections. It could be that the RCA output of my CD-2 is damaged, but all in all, I now see why @amirm always recommends balanced connections. They're just so much more convenient.
 
I now see why @amirm always recommends balanced connections. They're just so much more convenient.

And cost effective, pro audio balanced cables cost peanuts compared to the 'special' audio RCA cables people chase in the hope of some improvement.
 
And cost effective, pro audio balanced cables cost peanuts compared to the 'special' audio RCA cables people chase in the hope of some improvement.
Quite surprising that balanced cables haven't been affected as much by snake oil.

Also the idea behind balanced audio is so clever: as an engineer myself, the elegant simplicity of it is very appealing.
 
And cost effective, pro audio balanced cables cost peanuts compared to the 'special' audio RCA cables people chase in the hope of some improvement.
Quite surprising that balanced cables haven't been affected as much by snake oil.

Also the idea behind balanced audio is so clever: as an engineer myself, the elegant simplicity of it is very appealing.
You mean those cheap XLR cables for €500-2500 per stereo pair?
https://www.highend-audiokabel.de/unsere-marken/nordost/xlr-kabel/

But don't worry, they also come as Nordost Odin 2 XLR for €34,040 per pair.
 
Van Damme Starquad cable and Neutric XLR plugs are as good as it gets.

The industry that provides our source material use thousands of miles of this cable, hence the reasonable price.
I'm sure that if Nordost and similar cables provided any benefit then Abbey Road studios would use it.

Besides if our source is created with such cable, how could 'better' cable improve the source.

 
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But don't worry, they also come as Nordost Odin 2 XLR for €34,040 per pair.

Those who spend £ 72,000 on Gryphon amplifiers, need to spend similar amounts on cables :facepalm: .


I've heard such a system, sounds no better, possibly worse than my Benchmark AHB2> Quad 989ESL's,
using Van Damme cable.

Each to their own.

Capitalism dictates that the more money you have the more you need to spend.
 
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