Balanced or single ended phono stage?

A great and informative thread with only one contributor thus far claiming that the only benefit of differentially balanced circuitry is with long interconnect runs (would like to know more of her direct personal experience with true differentially balanced equipment).

I use an Ayre K-1xe phonolinepreamp and, as good as the line stage is, the phono section is substantially better IMO. Very quiet, dynamic, open, and detailed. I am told that the standalone P-5xe is a touch better sounding still, so definitely worthy of serious consideration among the truly differentially balanced phono stage options out there. Just be sure to consult with the good folks at Ayre regarding the proper tonearm/interconnect wiring scheme to ensure that the balanced signal is preserved from cartridge to phono stage.

Dave

Tdaudio: " The Ayre P-5xe is nice in that you can use the RCA single ended input and still take advantage of the balanced input. Just flip the bal/single ended switch to balanced. There is a slight difference in signal path but I verified with Ayre that both sides of the signal get to the diff input though there is a slight difference in signal path length which should not matter for practical purpose.

I used it as I described and also with the proper xlr input with the same tone arm, a Tri planar VII, which I had converted from RCA to XLR. Did not notice a difference!"

Interesting! I would think that you would, at a minimum, sacrifice the 6db of noise reduction by using single ended interconnects in the signal path.

From the K-1xe owners manual:

"As the phono cartridge is an inherently balanced device, the phono stage is also balanced, using XLR jacks at the input. This configuration yields maximum sonic performance with minimum noise and hum. Since most tone arms and/or turntables are not equipped with XLR connectors, there are two choices for making the proper connection:
1) Use an RCA-to-XLR adapter. This often may be the easiest solution to implement, but introduces an extra set of contacts into the signal path. In addition, this converts the balanced input into an unbalanced input and causes a slight loss of sound quality.
2) Use dedicated cables with XLR connectors at the preamplifier end and the appropriate connector (RCA or DIN, depending on the particular installation) at the turntable end. This is the preferred solution and offers the highest level of sound quality."

Tdaudio, I am not challenging your experience, but genuinely curious: was your XLR cable configured per one of the schematics on this link from the Ayre website:

http://www.ayre.com/acc_phono_schematics.htm#phrca

Perhaps the balanced/single ended switching function on the P-5xe that you describe explains your results since there is no such feature on the K-1xe?

Thanks,
Dave