Beepre balanced and unbalanced output.

[Demsy]

I asked wrongly about this earlier. Anybody has experience with the differents outputs, any audible differences?

[Paul Birkeland]

This tends to be intensely dependent on what you're driving with it.

-PB

[Demsy]

Hi PB, thanks for your reply.
At the moment the system is going all balanced from the source to the Sonic Frontiers pre and the DSP Anti-mode Dual Core, and unbalanced from the Dual Core to the Paramounts.
My idea with the Beepre is going balanced only from the Beepre to the Dual Core and unbalanced for the rest.
The cable used from the pre to the Dual Core is a 4m run of unshielded balanced Kimber cable. I like the neutral character of this cable very much and would like to keep it this way whenever possible.
Any idea how it may sound using the Beepre?

[Paul Birkeland]

You'll have to listen on that one and see.

On some solid state gear, we see extra components added to facilitate the use of balanced interconnects, and occasionally we see it the other way. 

[Demsy]

Can I then conclude that no owner of the Beepre has ever done a simple A, B comparisson between the balanced and unbalanced output?
I think I'll just knock on Doc's door then.
Thanks anyway

[Paul Birkeland]

Can I then conclude that no owner of the Beepre has ever done a simple A, B comparisson between the balanced and unbalanced output?

You would have to define what a "simple" comparison would be.

I have listened to both outputs on my BeePre, but using the balanced outputs into one of my amps with balanced inputs means using an input transformer in the amplifier, which I can remove when using unbalanced cables (for preferable performance).

[Doc B.]

The single ended output will sound a tiny bit better - unless you have an amp that will only accept a balanced input. Then the balanced output will sound better.

If your amp has both SE and balanced inputs it may itself sound different from each input. You just have to smoke it and see.

[Demsy]

You would have to define what a "simple" comparison would be.

I should have been more specific, indeed. What I had in mind was comparing the sound between the outputs using power amp that has balanced and SE inputs.

[Demsy]

The single ended output will sound a tiny bit better - unless you have an amp that will only accept a balanced input. Then the balanced output will sound better.

If your amp has both SE and balanced inputs it may itself sound different from each input. You just have to smoke it and see.

Doc, I have two systems and both have the balanced and SE option. The distance between the pre and the power amp is about 3m and for this I have to use a 4m long cable. I have compared the sound and the balanced is significantly better in this long run. I'm using unshielded Kimber balanced cables.
My concern is more to the outputs of the Beepre itself, as I understand that there are capacitor and resistor in the balanced out line. Would it, because of the additional components, affect the quality of the sound. That is the reason why I asked for an A-B comparison of the two outputs, out of the users experience. I guess there is no better place to ask about it at this this forum, isn't it?
If I don't have the SE option on the power amp side, as you mentioned, it will make life easier, of course .
I have the Beepre high on the list, that's why I want to know more about this pre amp. But I guess, again, as you mentioned, I'll have to find it out myself later once the Beepre is ready. But using SE connection means changing the lay out of my listening room radically, and whenever possible I'd like to avoid that.

[Paul Joppa]

This thread has gotten long enough that it's become hard to follow. To simplify I think you are asking about the 4-meter cable between a preamp and the DSP which is located (along with the Paramounts) near the speaker(s).

You said that your preferred balanced cable sounded better that an unbalanced cable when the Sonic Frontiers preamp was used, and would like to know whether that would still be the case with the BeePre.

Assuming I have correctly understood the question, it's impossible to make an educated guess without knowing the output circuits of the Sonic Frontiers and the input circuit of the DSP. Even if we had those circuits, and time to analyze them, it would still be a guess.

The one thing I can say with the available information, is that a poorly-shielded cable of 4 meters length would most likely pick up less noise if it were balanced. This does not address the BeePre, Sonic Frontiers, or DSP circuitry, just the interconnect itself. Whether a well-shielded unbalanced cable would solve the noise pickup problem is basically unanswerable without detailed knowledge of the electromagnetic noise environment.

[Demsy]

PJ,
What I asked is actually very simple, have the owners of the Beepre ever compared the sound of the balanced and SE output and which one is, according to the owner/s, better.

I asked this because I am very interested in building the Beepre and am hoping to be able to use the balanced output. Which means that I don't have to change the lay out of my present listening room. At present I am using the 4m long unshielded interconnect due to the distance between the pre and power amp with no interference issue at all. I have both the shielded and unshielded balanced interconnects and at the end I like the sound of the unshielded more. I also have tried a 4m SE interconnect and I really didn't like the sound at all. In fact even with 1m short interconnects, I like the all balanced connection's sound better than the SE.

I understand that, as Doc mentioned earlier, I'll have to try it out myself. But I thought that it would be nice to know what the owners of the Beepre thought, no more and no less than that.