Is switching headphone amp unit worth it only to get balanced output?

[noberasco]

Hello everyone,

I have been following this forum for some time, now it is my turn to ask for your assistance

Over time, I switched from a series of (disappointing and often embarassing) headphones to a pair of BeoPlay H6 v2, which is the first headphone I really liked listening with. Later I paired them with a Topping DX3 pro dac/amp unit.

After reading countless reviews and forum posts I recently upgraded to a pair of Stellias, which I really could not afford but bought them all the same. This is likely the endgame for me, and in any case I won't be able to afford another pair any time soon ;-)

That said, the difference in sound quality is impressive, at least to my ears, to the point where it now really makes sense to start looking for better recordings instead of better heaphones...

How much sense it would have to upgrade the DX3 with a unit sporting balanced output (such as the DX7s or DX7 pro)? I know the advantages from a technical standpoint, but how much *audible* improvement would this likely yeld? The music I listen to already sounds pretty awesome!

Thank you in advance for your answers

 

[technoian]

I don't see that there are technical advantages in opting for balanced outputs in a desktop headphone amplifier. The guys at Bechmark explain this way better than I could in the following link;
https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/audio-myth-balanced-headphone-outputs-are-better
To produce an audible improvement you could simply feed the output of the DX3 into a Topping L30 headphone amplifier which provides state of the art figures at a bargain price.

 

[noberasco]

Hi @technoian,

thank you for your answer, one never stops learning
As you can guess I'm relatively new to the audiophile world.

I was under the impression that balanced output helped in:
1 - delivering more power
2 - noise reduction (by cancelling most noise picked up within the wire)

Point 1 is not an issue for me (DX3 pro can easily drive the Stellias).

Point 2 is what I was referring to in my post. Now I discover that it usually does not apply to headphones. While some headphones do have the circuitry to properly handle balanced output from amps, according to this [*] the Stellia does not.

What confused me is that:
- Stellias come packaged with both balanced XLR and single ended cabling
- in most reviews I read about the Stellias, they were connected using XLR balanced cables

If there really is no reason to prefer XLR over single ended for headphones, I guess my setup is complete for the time being.
Unless of course you have other suggestions to make

[*]
https://www.techhive.com/article/3571436/focal-stellia-headphone-review.html

 

[solderdude]

1 - delivering more power
2 - noise reduction (by cancelling most noise picked up within the wire)

benefits of balanced for headphone outputs/headphones (not amp inputs):

Balanced allows for delivering a higher voltage when powered from a certain internal voltage rail in an amplifier design.
For higher impedance headphones this generally means double the output voltage = quadruple the output power = +6dB
This can be very benificial in case low voltage rail devices are used combined with voltage inefficient headphones.
When you already have enough voltage to drive high impedance headphones to sufficient levels, balanced is moot because you are never going to use the extra voltage.

A second advantage is when the headphone CABLE is a 4 wire cable. In that case in both balanced (TRRS, Pentaconn, XLR-4 pin) and common return (TRS jacks) that cable is the advantage and not the balanced drive per-se.
A 3wire cable has both return wires combined, a 4-wire combines them at the plug.
With low impedance headphones and relatively high resistance wiring (long and thin internal wires, says nothing about the looks/outside) there can be quite measurable and audible changes in the sound width/imaging.
So in this case the balanced wire is to reason not the balanced signal.

A third advantage could be that even order distortion in the balanced amp cancels out (see Schiit Magnius) resulting in lower 2nd harmonics, usually at the expense of slightly higher 3rd harmonic distortion.

For the most part marketting and BS.
4 wire cable and portable situations (little available voltage) is where balanced headphone (cables) can have a measurable and audible advantage.

 

[technoian]

@solderdude has done a good job, as usual, in explaining the differences between single-ended and balanced outputs from headphone amplifiers.
As far as your point 2 supposed benefit goes;" 2 - noise reduction (by cancelling most noise picked up within the wire)" . This is only a benefit for balanced inputs on an amplifier. You will often see amir comment in his tests on how it is good to see balanced inputs for this reason.
Personally if I were given the option of having either a balanced input or a balanced output on a desktop headphone amplifier I would always choose the former.

 

[Vincent Kars]

2 - noise reduction (by cancelling most noise picked up within the wire)

Indeed that is what a balanced connection does.
This requires a 3 wire connection (hot, cold, earth)
In the headphone world they call a 2x2 wired connection (L/L ground, R/Rground) "balanced"
This is identical to how we connect speakers to an amp and there is nothing balanced about this connection.

The reason the headphone world calls it balanced is probably because when using 2x2 you can use an amp without a common ground for the L & R output e.g. a balanced amp, push/pull, etc.

 

[noberasco]

Thanks for the answers I received so far.

I admit having some difficulty following some of the concepts but, again, I'm rather new to this world, and I am here to learn!

Let me try to summarize what would change if I were to hypotetically replace my Topping DX3 pro with Topping DX7 pro and XLR-4 pin cabling.

I would not get any noise-reduction benefits, because balanced signal requires having 3-wire (hot, cold, earth) connections to the earcups, while the Stellias have 2-wire connections.

Instead, I would get:
- lower distortion (DX7 is a better amp), but the difference would likely be inaudible
- double voltage (my Stellias would be driven at 4V instead of 2V)
- balanced cabling (4-wire cabling with returns combined at the plug)

Would the Stellias benefit from this extra voltage (sound width/imaging)?

Balanced cabling is the part I understood less. If I got it right, it would be mostly beneficial in case of poor (long and thin) cabling, which should not be the case with the stock cabling included with Stellias. Plus, it helps canceling amp distortion (which both Topping models should have very little of). Am I over-simplifying this part too much?