When to choice XLR over RCA ICs.


If your IC connections are 1m or less is there a difference between using XLR over RCA Interconnects?

As one moves up the ICs cable lines with a manufacturer (ex. Audioquest) which connections would you upgrade first and in what order.

My system is McIntosh (C12000 two part preamp, Men220 room equalizer, MC611 mono-amps), Audioquest (AQ) Niagara 5000 line conditioner, and Hi-Fi Rose 150b streamer. 

I am currently using AQ Black Beauty XLR ICs. I have a pair of 1m Firebird RCA ICs and would like to replace one of the Black Beauty ICs in system configuration. Future upgrades looking for recommendations. 

Presently using a AQ 2m Thunder 20A power cord from wall socket to Niagara. 

Using 4ft AQ William Tell (Silver) bi-wire combo speaker cable (mono-amps to 800d3 speakers. 

Thank you, Please advise.

Bob

128x128farne230

If you can hear the difference with cables that short, you have 'dog's ears. :-) 

If your system is 'balanced' and a you're a tad anal XLR cables would put your mind at ease. They won't make it worse. 

It is worthwhile to try them, there are two places for differences.. between the components themselves and the cables. In general you are not going to hear a sound quality difference between the two cables of the same construction (same level, one balanced and one not), although the XLR will be a little louder. Then the question will be on the components.

 

When I got my most recent Audio Research components (which are of balanced design) I had unbalanced Transparent interconnects, so I compared with balanced… which cost a lot more. If there was a difference it was really really subtitle.

I decided to upgrade another level of cables… and chose balanced… just because the industry is headed that way and it is Audio Research’s recommendation. If I was still upgrading my system, I would probably put the money elsewhere. Iike direct lines, or vibration control.

I would not upgrade from unbalanced to balanced at the same level of interconnect. But if in the market to upgrade interconnects to match your system, that would be the time to do it. But you must verify that XLR outputs do sound the same or better. On some gear, they may not.

as per xlr vs rca itreally depends on length and components design.

 

 

long runs xlr is preferred if the devices are truly balanced ie differential cicuits then xlr

if thedevice uses a trasformer to turn rca to xlr the use rca.

hope that helps

Dave and Troy

audio Intellect NJ

Many differentially balanced components will yield 6dB more gain when operated fully balanced - that is, balanced input and output. Another way to look at that is a 6dB improvement in s/n. That can be noticeable.