Newbie: unbalanced versus XLR on DAC

"Anyway, a different kind of 'balanced' worth investigating IMO."
Good point, but remember that the stock rDAC under discussion uses a 6V DC feed from a very cheap external switching transformer.
In this case, a battery or other non-switching DC feed might be worth trying first.

Great answers by Herman and Elizabeth.There`s much hype and theory, but unless you have to run very long IC cables, some of the very best sounding systems do just fine with un balanced components and IC cable. Now when it comes to Balanced AC power, that`s a different story you`ll certainly hear a difference for the better.

The rDAC looks like a neat unit that has elements from some very high-shelf designers (dCS and Wolfram). Arcam also has years of experience producing top source gear without balanced outputs.

Suggest you might want to

- Use USB (with length of 8 feet or less - and forget using any wireless) to take full advantage of Asynchronous mode.

- Experiment with feeding it battery power, to replace its stock, inexpensive, switched power source.

Let us know how it works out for you.

Balanced generally has a lower noise floor.

I would not get a new DAC just to be able to run balanced interconnects unless I had a very long run; like maybe 20' or more, UNLESS my amp was designed specifically to run balanced.

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there is no consensus

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never has been

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never will be

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