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Eichmann Bullet Connector versus XLR

After reading all the positive feedback on the performance of Eichmann Silver Bullet connectors, I decided to install them on my favorite pair of interconnects. To say I'm thrilled with the improved detail and depth of soundstage is an understatement to say the least. I use this cable between my CD player and my preamp.

I'm now faced with a quandry that I'm sure many audiophiles now face. My preamp and amp supports both balanced and unbalanced connections and I'm currently using the balanced XLR connections. In the pre "low mass" RCA era (i.e. before the advent of the Eichmann Bullet or WBT Nextgen) it was pretty much a no-brainer to use the balanced connections especially for longer runs. Now however, I'm not so sure because I never remembered the XLR cables to provide the type of sonic improvement that the Eichmanns provide and I'd like to hear other people's thoughts or experiences on this subbject. On the surface, this may seem to be an apples versus oranges issue, but "low mass" RCAs to me has reopened the whole issue of balanced versus unbalanced.

audio_al

Showing 1 response by tonyptony

tonyptony
614 posts
 
Al, it may have more to do with your preamp and driving sources. Is the preamp a true fully balanced design, or does it just convert a single ended signal to support a balanced connector? In that case you'd be going through extra circuitry using the XLR for (maybe) no real benefit. Are you using long ICs? That may indicate an advantage for XLR, but unless the input impedance of the preamp is very high it may not really matter.

If, OTOH, you have both a source and a preamp that operates in a true fully balanced configuration then I think using XLR could very well be the better choice.
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