Atmasphere, I believe you. The whole point of true balanced should be to eliminate IC wire/wire length influences. I have a hybrid preamp with both SE and BAL outputs. I used high quality BAL cables for many years; but occasionally I would put some SE ICs between the amp and preamp and that arrangement would sound a touch better. Eventually, I moved my amp closer to the preamp and went with high quality SE ICs. I think it sounds better with SE ICs because on paper my preamp wants 20k Ohms min impedance and my amp is 22k ohms BAL looking into it. I think the SE has slightly higher impedance. My ICs also have switchable impedance settings. Is my thinking correct? My system today sounds very good with satisfying low end.
