Headphone Heights

I don't think you will lose much of anything...

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... because the audio signal tubes in our "balanced drive" DNA headphone amps are DC heated there should be zero background noise generated either by the amp itself, or by the amp in conjunction with most any type of single-ended source component. At least, that's how wonderfully my DNA amp performs in my own headphone system.

The sonic benefits of using a "balanced drive" amplifier (with or without a "fully balanced" system) are: Less crosstalk between channels for better channel separation, a doubling of the slew rate and voltage swing power for faster transients and better dynamics, and lower distortion for cleaner sound.

Another possible benefit of balanced drive might have to do with the XLR cables themselves. I think that XLR connectors may provide better electrical contact than standard 1/8" or 1/4" headphone jack/plug combos do. When your electrical connections are as tight and as firm as possible (as I believe they are when you use XLR connectors), a small amount of voltage gain is possible and you might hear improvements in both clarity and dynamics.

Some headphones seem to benefit from balanced drive more than others do.

Some people don't hear or notice much difference between single-ended and balanced drive operation, while others seem to hear the sonic differences quite easily.

BTW, so long as you are using interconnects shorter than 2 meters long, you would be unlikely to experience much audible benefit from a "fully balanced" system. But a "balanced drive" amp will provide the aforementioned benefits, regardless.

So, I don't believe that using source components with balanced outputs would provide much of an advantage in your case. Fully balanced topology is not a feature found in DNA Audio products, to date.

That said, I'm sure that Donald North himself would be much better at answering these kinds of technical questions than I am. Have you tried asking him about this?


Edits: 09/20/13   09/20/13   09/20/13   09/20/13   09/21/13

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