Digital Mastering System
Active Member
I have a bench full of test instruments and all of them are single ended BNC. Oh, one spectrum analyzer has a balanced input (using a not so great transformer). I have a GHz Spectrum analyzer that's single ended. All scopes and the generators are SE. My HP noise meter is SE. I also have instrumentation transformers when I need them and a Tektronics Differential probe. To be honest I rarely use them because I usually don't need to use them.
It is true that the RCA connector itself is junk - as audopile (above) has said, BNC or others are superior connectors as is the XLR.
But the prevalence of balanced connections in high end gear is mostly fashion - it rarely actually fixes a problem that exists and is often worse noise wise than the the simpler SE configuration.
The usual 'HiFi' balanced connection is not really a pro +4dbm setup anyway. The pro stuff I worked on clipped at +28dbm (19Vrms if I'm not mistaken, 55v pk-pk; of course transformers make this possible with 15V rails).
It is true that the RCA connector itself is junk - as audopile (above) has said, BNC or others are superior connectors as is the XLR.
But the prevalence of balanced connections in high end gear is mostly fashion - it rarely actually fixes a problem that exists and is often worse noise wise than the the simpler SE configuration.
The usual 'HiFi' balanced connection is not really a pro +4dbm setup anyway. The pro stuff I worked on clipped at +28dbm (19Vrms if I'm not mistaken, 55v pk-pk; of course transformers make this possible with 15V rails).