Worth upgrading to Balanced DAC/AMP?

[_thelaughingman]

I currently have a stable of headphones that include Sennheiser HD560s, Hifiman He400se, Grado SR80e powered by Topping E30/Sabaj A10H which are unbalanced. Would it be worth upgrading to the balanced dac/amp combo for more power for the HD560s and He400se? The Planars do require more current compared to the Sennheiser' from my observation.

 

[bravomail]

I currently have a stable of headphones that include Sennheiser HD560s, Hifiman He400se, Grado SR80e powered by Topping E30/Sabaj A10H which are unbalanced. Would it be worth upgrading to the balanced dac/amp combo for more power for the HD560s and He400se? The Planars do require more current compared to the Sennheiser' from my observation.

check Sabaj A10h review and the power it gives. In general, u won't need balanced amp to drive headphones. But if ur amp is weak and headphones r hard to drive - then might be worth.

 

[NiagaraPete]

I never would have even considered balanced for home HiFi but here it is 2021 and I bought balanced because my next purchase will be Genelec G Five and the line output will be going to a sub. It;'s nice to have so many options.

 

[Snoopy]

I never would have even considered balanced for home HiFi but here it is 2021 and I bought balanced because my next purchase will be Genelec G Five and the line output will be going to a sub. It;'s nice to have so many options.

I went balanced because the XLR out of my DAC feeds my headphone amp and the RCA out goes to the stereo amplifier.

 

[Berwhale]

I never would have even considered balanced for home HiFi but here it is 2021 and I bought balanced because my next purchase will be Genelec G Five and the line output will be going to a sub. It;'s nice to have so many options.

Balanced for headphones is different from balanced for line output. I bought a Topping EX5 to gain balanced output for my monitors to resolve a ground loop issue. But the HP amp in the EX5 is single ended, despite having a fake 'balanced' XLR HP connector on the front of it. The EX5 has no issues driving my HD660s, HE4XX or K371. I'm not missing the Topping A50s, with it's balanced HP output, that was previously in my desktop setup.

 

[Lambda]

Same old story if you think you have a problem with not enough dynamic and to mush noises or SNR.
go for a full balanced full bridge chain.
Theoretical this can give you 3dB better SNR. if everything else stays equal.

 

[Jim Shaw]

Same old story if you think you have a problem with not enough dynamic and to mush noises or SNR.
go for a full balanced full bridge chain.
Theoretical this can give you 3dB better SNR. if everything else stays equal.

Yes, and a great deal more SNR if you're a victim of a ground loop issue.

Sometimes I think audiofiles like to try to emulate broadcast gear. You know, no tone controls, minimum gain controls, balanced lines, low Z signal lines, and XLRs.
So far, the only real need I see for balanced, low impedance, XLR cables is in the relatively long signal lines that you may send to powered speakers. Single-ended, high impedance, long lines can pick up noise and lose high frequencies due to capacitance. But if there are no ground loop issues due to a common signal connection, and the lines are short, RCA-type connectors/cables should be fine. (There's always somebody who will say they can hear a difference, and the one they have is better. C'est la vie.)

To manufacturers, the key advantage of newly championed balanced signal gear is the higher price they seem able to get for a device that only costs a little more to build. Kind of like VU meters on an amp: take a good $2000 amp and add VU meters and you can likely charge $4000. Make the VU meters big and light up blue, and make that $7000.

Selling audio gear to the ever restless and affluent can be a good business. Maybe that's why there are hundreds of manufacturers in the business -- at least for a while. We tend not to read or hear about those who disappear.

 

[Lambda]

Yes, and a great deal more SNR if you're a victim of a ground loop issue.

Sure but this usually don’t apply for the last part with the headphones.
they are hopefully isolated from your body

 

[Jim Shaw]

Sure but this usually don’t apply for the last part with the headphones.
they are hopefully isolated from your body

Intuitively obvious and empirically, too. Good job.

 

[Carlo2AC]

From what i understood you have the E30 is connected to your PC and to the A10H, you are using the A10H to power your headphones?

If you aren't having issues with ground loops, if your room / mart is grounded then i wouldn't sidegrade to anything.. unbalanced or not, unless you want more features, the A10h can deliver up to 1.1 watt @ 33 ohms (most planars are that or lower compared to something like HD 800 which is 300 ohms), it is not say impossible but extremely unlikely that you would run into anything that it could not properly power.

 

[Vincent Kars]

Balanced for headphones is different from balanced for line output.

Indeed.
In the headphone world "balanced" means you can use a "balanced" headphone amp.
This is simply 2 amps per channel, one pushing, one pulling.
This means the "ground" is active as well. Hence you need a 4 wire connection (L+/L-, R+/R-) to the headphone.
Just like you connect speakers to an amp, 2x single ended.

Often headphone amps offer both TRS and TRRS out. The "balanced" one is most of the time 2 times as powerful but also higher on distortion.
If doubling the number of amps per channel is equivalent to higher sound quality is questionable.

Some argue a single powerful amp per channel is better: https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/audio-myth-balanced-headphone-outputs-are-better