Single ended to balanced to eliminate hum?

[The Sentinel]

Hello, this is my very first post here; what I like of this site is that pretty much of it is based on facts; of course opinions are valuable as long as their are reasonably backed by measures.

I have a simple question and I thank any comment in advance:

My audio chain runs single ended in its enterity, sources (turntable, phono preamp (Mani 2), CD player, DAC), then preamp (NAD C165BEE) and poweramp (PrimaLuna EVO400), all interconected with good quality RCA cables; I have detected hum/noise coming from the turntable, not much but it is there and I wonder if I could have the chance to eliminate that noise by using the balanced inputs of the EVO400 which seem to be real balanced (differential).

For doing that I do not thing a simple RCA->XLR cable would be enough at the output of the preamp, would it?

Other option I am considering is a Schiit Lokius which would bring a nice tone control and I could be using the single ended inputs and the balanced outputs that are said to be real balanced and then the PrimaLuna, do you think that would work?

Any other soultion (without breaking the bank) would be gladly considered.

Thanks to anyone who brings a word of wisdom!!

 

[DVDdoug]

Depending on the source of the hum it might help.

But some hum & hiss is normal. A phono pickup has a coil and although it's shielded, it usually picks-up some electromagnetic radiation from the surrounding power lines, etc. Guitar pick-ups are also coils and they suffer from the same challenges. If you wanted to pick-up hum, you'd use a coil.

Then the preamp itself will generate some hiss (or hum or other noise can get-in through the preamp's power supply). And since you've got a tiny signal and a high-gain amplifier, any noise gets amplified and that makes it tough to get a good signal-to-noise ratio. But in a good set-up the record itself is usually the worst source of noise.

For doing that I do not thing a simple RCA->XLR cable would be enough at the output of the preamp, would it?

As long as it's wired "correctly" it will work. This page shows how to adapt balanced to unbalanced.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I have detected hum/noise coming from the turntable,

I wonder if I could have the chance to eliminate that noise by using the balanced inputs of the EVO400 which seem to be real balanced (differential).

For doing that I do not thing a simple RCA->XLR cable would be enough at the output of the preamp, would it?

If the noise is coming from the turntable, instituting fixes downstream will have no effect on it.

Other option I am considering is a Schiit Lokius which would bring a nice tone control and I could be using the single ended inputs and the balanced outputs that are said to be real balanced and then the PrimaLuna, do you think that would work?

See above.

Any other soultion (without breaking the bank) would be gladly considered.

If the problem is where you say it is (turntable, phono preamp), you need to fix it there. Take close look at the cartridge to arm wiring, arm to preamp wiring and whether these devices are properly grounded.

 

[Jukka]

Ground loop hum is at your mains frequency, 50 or 60 Hz and can usually be eliminated by using the same power outlet for all devices. If that is not possible, you can try balanced, but if both devices (that form the loop) are not balanced and adapter cable is not properly constructed (I have not seen any commercial cables that are good for this), you may still end up with hum.

But there is a device just for this for rca-rca connection. A device like this should be good for the job. Be sure to first identify the source of the hum and if it's from a ground loop, which connection between devices is the cause.

 

[Deleted member 46664]

One thing to try as an experiment ... Disconnect your turntable ground. Does the hum get worse?

Sometimes grounding to avoid hum creates ground loops that cause hum ....