Henry Engineering Matchbox HD RCA/XLR Converter

[robertozappala]

some friends of mine have this and say it's great

ART Cleanbox Pro

2-Channel level converter To convert two unbalanced channels into two symmetrical channels and vice versa, Noise and low-distortion circuit, XLR connectors for balanced inputs and outputs, RCA connectors and stereo mini jacks for unbalanced inputs...

www.thomann.de

 

[Joachim Herbert]

Yes.
...
It's audiophool stuff.

Go tell Neumann, Genelec and the rest of the crowd.

 

[JeremyFife]

I'll qualify this by saying that I don't understand the electronics needed for conversion (my use would be single ended to balanced). With that caveat: seems expensive.

What's the advantage over a simple cable?

 

[madrac]

By a simple cable, if you mean an XLR to RCA (or vice-versa) cable, the signal still remains unbalanced (so none of the advantages for noise rejection of an XLR cable if you need that - e.g. long distance runs) and at the lower decibel level (eg, XLR is +6 dB hotter than RCA).

I've used the Matchbox previously and it works very well.

There's another option that is a bit less expensive than the Matchbox from Angry Audio. I've not tried Angry's offering so don't know how it compares to the Henry one.

Balancing Gadgets - Angry Audio

angryaudio.com

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Yes.

A continuous cable from the wall point to the power switch and primary is a whole lot better than an unnecessary termination to a socket, then a plug, then onwards.

Resistance, poor/intermittent contact, losses, heat etc, not to mention a whole lot of wasted cost and rear panel real estate making allowance for a silly IEC 3/2 pin or maybe and equally useless figure 8 socket. Fine on camera battery chargers, kettles or computer/monitors, but not HiFi, where the earth connection is often vital.

It's audiophool stuff.

Nonsense .... god forbid that you will ever need live support. All separate cables. What is good enough for medical is good enough for audio, TV, Computer Monitors, PCs etc.. Nothing to do with audiophoolery.... just very practical when moving from one country to another and needing a different plug or different length. Just change the cable for 5 bucks.

 

[sergeauckland]

Yes.

A continuous cable from the wall point to the power switch and primary is a whole lot better than an unnecessary termination to a socket, then a plug, then onwards.

Resistance, poor/intermittent contact, losses, heat etc, not to mention a whole lot of wasted cost and rear panel real estate making allowance for a silly IEC 3/2 pin or maybe and equally useless figure 8 socket. Fine on camera battery chargers, kettles or computer/monitors, but not HiFi, where the earth connection is often vital.

It's audiophool stuff.

Whist you are right technically, I too heartily dislike fixed power cords, as it makes the equipment awkward to handle, having to avoid getting tangled in the cord when moving stuff about. I far prefer all connections to be unpluggable (which is why I equally don't like the common US method of audio connections using barrier strips).

On the few items I have with fixed power cords, I've cut the cable short and fitted an IEC in-line connector.

S.

 

[Lambda]

The Permanently attached power cord as well as the price makes this unattractive

 

[JayGilb]

Yes.

A continuous cable from the wall point to the power switch and primary is a whole lot better than an unnecessary termination to a socket, then a plug, then onwards.

Resistance, poor/intermittent contact, losses, heat etc, not to mention a whole lot of wasted cost and rear panel real estate making allowance for a silly IEC 3/2 pin or maybe and equally useless figure 8 socket. Fine on camera battery chargers, kettles or computer/monitors, but not HiFi, where the earth connection is often vital.

It's audiophool stuff.

 

[Lambda]

You don't like a fixed power cable? Why on earth not?

I don’t even like that it needs AC.
I don’t think it should have a PE ground. it has a ground reference from the XLR/RCA plugs tarts enough. No need to create unnecessary ground loops.

Resistance, poor/intermittent contact, losses, heat etc,

It's audiophool stuff.

Yes sound like audiophool stuff.

IEC c5/c4 works fine on Millions of devices and you can Chose the right length and wall plug type for your application and region.

 

[pLudio]

By a simple cable, if you mean an XLR to RCA (or vice-versa) cable, the signal still remains unbalanced (so none of the advantages for noise rejection of an XLR cable if you need that - e.g. long distance runs) and at the lower decibel level (eg, XLR is +6 dB hotter than RCA).

You still get Common Mode Rejection with RCA to XLR.

 

[Lambda]

You still get Common Mode Rejection with RCA to XLR.

If you go from a RCA source to XLR you might get some Common Mode Rejection.
It depends on the XLR reviver and topology there are Devices with XLR inputs that have no CMRR.

Also some (most?) of the RCA to XLR cables used only a 2 wire cable and concoct Negative and Ground on the XLR side

 

[DrCWO]

Looking for converters from XLR to Cinch and vice versa Funk Tonstudiotechnik was always my first choice.
They have a box called SAM-1Bs / SAM-1C also available as OEM modules.

This is their spec for SAM-1C:
exzellente Dynamik : über 136 dB! bei Verstärkung 1
geringste Verzerrungen THD (+6 dBu 1kHz) < 0,00005 %
THD+N 1 kHz +6 dBu Bw 22 kHz : < -116 dB
Frequenzgang 10 Hz..20 kHz : < +/- 0,01dB
Gleichtaktunterdrückung sym. Eingänge >115 dB 1kHz
Symmetrie sym. Ausgänge : > 80 dB
Stromversorgung : 80..265 V / 50..400 Hz / 5W

On this page they also offer information in English for SAM-1C.
In the Manual you will also find a lot of measurements of the SAM-1C, which are undoubtedly state of the art.

Edit:
About 460€ for both directions XLR--> Cinch and Cinch -->XLR. Not cheap but durable, top technology.
And no. I don't sell them

Best DrCWO

 

[JPA]

some friends of mine have this and say it's great

ART Cleanbox Pro

2-Channel level converter To convert two unbalanced channels into two symmetrical channels and vice versa, Noise and low-distortion circuit, XLR connectors for balanced inputs and outputs, RCA connectors and stereo mini jacks for unbalanced inputs...

www.thomann.de

Ask them to send one to Amir for testing.

 

[Todd k]

some friends of mine have this and say it's great

ART Cleanbox Pro

2-Channel level converter To convert two unbalanced channels into two symmetrical channels and vice versa, Noise and low-distortion circuit, XLR connectors for balanced inputs and outputs, RCA connectors and stereo mini jacks for unbalanced inputs...

www.thomann.de

I have that unit and it works well. Would be happy to send in if Amir wants to test it.

 

[JeffGB]

Thank you for the review, Amir. This little box does outperform most transformers but I don't know why anyone would purchase it when the Schiit Midgard is available cheaper and has essentially the same functionality with the addition of variable gain, higher performance, an excellent HPA and a nice analog volume control.

 

[pLudio]

Also some (most?) of the RCA to XLR cables used only a 2 wire cable and concoct Negative and Ground on the XLR side

True, build your own semi-differential cables. Benchmark Media sells proper ones.

 

[AdamG]

You don't like a fixed power cable? Why on earth not?

Lacks upgrade path. Pure speculation on my part.

Great Review Amir. Thank you Sir. Santa’s helpers have been churning out the Review Subjects left and right. Don’t forget to eat your cookies.

 

[beefkabob]

That would just be an unbalanced connection, not much point to that.

This performs alright, but at 250$ most people would be better served with a balanced DAC with everything going digital anyway.

The most popular device of this kind seems to be the Behringer HD-400, I‘d be really interested to see some measurements for that.

But the entire point of the review was going from balanced to unbalanced, yes?

 

[amirm]

But the entire point of the review was going from balanced to unbalanced, yes?

No unbalanced to balanced.

 

[sam_adams]

@amirm, has this been boxed up and shipped back yet? If not, can you get permission to pop the top and take a few quick inside pix?