I'm late to the game also but while I thought an XLR to RCA cable would work best on my situation, it's starting to sound like it may cause more issues, if not using pin3 the output power is cut in half, discrete or active matters ECT..
I am receiving my Schitt Saga 2 today and while I'll be using single ended for now I was going to try to get an XLR to RCA cable but am I correct in assuming after reading this thread that unless you can ground pins 2 and 3 it's simple a waste of time?
I'll have a Fosi Audio ZD3 going to the Saga 2 which does have XLR outputs just not inputs. While I would have liked to just get the Kara F, it's simply to much, but does have 2 XLR Inputs, hence the much higher price (among other things). Pet Schitt you should only do single ended to single ended and using any adapter or XLR cable voids your warranty. Not that it won't work but I understand Schitt's stance.
The main reason I wanted to use XLR is the higher output power but if that's cut in half which is equal to the single ended output I'm not gaining anything. To my ears the XLR outputs sound better but part of that could be due to the added output power Having a preamp with gain control seems like RCA to RCA would seem to make up for any output power loss on the XLR outputs and since the Saga 2 has balanced outputs I can still use my ZA3 monoblocks so power won't be a real issue. Unless there is something inherently "better" with the XLR output stage that isn't power related vs the RCA output stage on the ZD3 DAC. I did replace the 2 XLR op amps in my ZD3 to a Burson V7 Vivid's so I guess I'll have a spare one using the single ended RCA's single it only requires changing one op amp instead of 2. Below is from the FAQ. Please let me know if I'm mistaken by my decision that XLR to RCA won't improve anything except potential headaches at best or damaging my gear at worst if using an XLR to RCA cable with pin 2 and 3 connected or be safe and lose half the Vrms output on the XLR outputs on my DAC by using a cable with pin 3 not connected on the XLR cable. Thanks.
www.schiit.com
And it’s fully discrete?
Yep! Chapter here: LINK.
And real differential? Balanced?
Absolutely. And yes, absolutely real, no funny stuff. As you may have expected from the previous questions, here’s the chapter we wrote on what balanced, differential means: LINK.
Well, why do you have balanced outputs but no balanced inputs?
Finally a great question. Here’s the deal: balanced inputs for inexpensive gear are, well, kinda a canard. As in, the good inexpensive sources are usually single-ended anyway, so your inputs are typically gonna be single-ended. However, we make a bunch of amps (Gjallarhorn, Aegir 2, Vidar 2) that can use balanced inputs to create a mono amp with much more power. So balanced out is important. All of that means that single-ended in, balanced or single-ended out makes a lot of sense. So that’s what Saga 2 gets.
