Balanced audio: how it works, why it works, and should you use it? 

Lol, I love how the video suddenly turns into an unboxing video when the box arrives.

Ten years + and I'm still learning from your videos. Thanks again James.

Thank you so much! I'm in Audio Production 101 and didn't understand balanced signals until your demonstrations. You're a life-saver!

Great video, James. Just to pick you up on a little point at 11:30 - the signals in a balanced pair are not 180degrees out of phase, they are locked at the same phase but are inverted. If you shift the phase, you shift the position of the signal along the X (time) axis. With your demonstration sine wave it wouldn't make a difference, but with a real-world, complex wave form it'd sound a bit shifty if the signals were 180 degrees out of phase!

I wasn't expecting this to be a good video because it just popped up automatically, but this was one of the best explanations of this I've ever seen. Most other videos on the topic are hard to follow or poorly made. The part about the ground lift was super helpful.

Don't know why youtube have this habitude of suggesting old videos but it is 2021 and learned a lot about audio today ! Thanks !!

thanks, really well explained. you are right, you can hardly find a deep explanation of unbalanced and balanced audio on youtube. As an electrical engineer, I appreciate your content.

Thanks a lot for explaining most of what I didn't understand about audio cables in one video. You're a great teacher.

First video I have watched out of many that clearly explains the concepts. I doubt if all the others really understand what they are explaining. I am sure some of them are just repeating what they have learned and leaving out stuff that they never completely got. You obviously understand all of it. Very cool.

I'VE BEEN IN ROCK BANDS FOR 40 YEARS and you just answered everything we all didn't know in 20 odd minutes THANKS BUDDY LOVE YOUR STYLE TOO

Just found your channel. ❤ the way you explain things and love listening to the beautiful Britishness in your language and demeanor. Man’s got style

Tried a half dozen other tutorials to be STILL left baffled , you've nailed it though , many thanks - at least now i have a bit more of a clue !

Best explanation I've yet seen out of a few videos. The dry humor is great, too.

You should be a teacher mate! (That's coming from one). You can really explain tricky subjects very clearly! Good stuff!!

Absolutely brilliant. Thank you so much for this in-depth explanation. It's so difficult these days to find information that breaks things down right to the source and explains them thoroughly. I have the hardest time learning anything unless I can understand the fundamentals first. People explain how things work, but too often fail to mention WHY, and you did a fantastic job of explaining the difference between the two cables, how they work, and why they work.

Thank you for sacrificing the cables. Very informative. Great job!

Hey Viperfrank, very good video.. great explanation, in-depth sure.. I agree, none of the youtube videos are even half as close to how you explained. Learnt a lot. Truly appreciate, many thanks. Guys, if there's a video to watch on balanced audio, watch this.. look no further..

Yeah, this is an old video, but I love this guy. He really knows what he’s talking about and how to teach it to others. So few “educated” audio geeks actually understand these basic principles so foundational to excellent sound reinforcement and helpful for problem troubleshooting. Hopefully you learned something or refreshed your physics 101.

Great video on audio balanced and unbalanced cables! Loved it!

I'm currently an audio engineering student and this helped me out a great deal. Thank you very much!

Most excellent video! All the questions I have had surrounding balanced audio, ground loops, and phantom power have been thoroughly answered. Thanks so much for all the effort! Have a good one!

Fantastic video, thanks James! Learnt such a lot from the last 20 minutes. And bonus points for the kittens :)

Great video. I especially enjoyed the "glitch in the matrix" with the two cats in the background.

Thank you so much for this video. I have searched all over trying to get a full understanding of balanced vs. unbalanced. You explained everything in great detail and went deep enough into the subject that I feel like I really understand it now. Many thanks

Great, long time searching for making me understand, I know it is simple in basics, but it is an art to bring it over in all its simplicity, dismantle the complexity piece by piece. Thank you very much !

Nice video. Couple of things to add. The ground in the signal wires is better referred to as "common." On better equipment, this common is "lifted" above the mains (safety) ground to prevent common mode noise from the mains wiring from getting into the signal. In fact, the common can float entirely free of ground, and everything will still operate properly - it is only tied to earth for safety reasons. There is also a major downside to balanced audio. The entire signal passes through a differential amplifier at both ends of the wire. Parts quality and implementation will play a huge role in retaining the original signal, and will always add some distortion. Cheap or damaged wires can introduce a phase shift in the inverted signal, leading to huge loss in resolution - a problem that only gets worse as the wire gets longer. A well implemented unbalanced set up will often be "better" than a poorly implemented balanced.

Exemplary tutorial, Well thought out, with Useful Examples. Fantastic.

great detailed video, guys like you is the reason why youtube is very worthwhile

Man you prove internet is not only full of crap, thank you.

Very complete, you should do a series on phase and polarity. Great job!

Very happy i found your videos. I have been considering using balanced cables and now I understand how they work. Keep up the great work. Thank you.

Wonderful tutorial, thank you very much. Very helpful for the exam I'm sitting for in about 5 hours :P Wish me luck. Greetings from Argentina.

Best one ive seen so far on the subject. (You explained it better than my teacher did 😂)

Thanks for refreshing that for me and learning a bit more details about it. wish u would make more video's, I've learnt so much from your channel. You're a great teacher ! If only someone could explain to me how hiss in speakers works and how to eliminate it.

Really, really well put together video and really well explained, in a way that anyone can understand and not be bored. Why the hell aren't you a lecturer at college, or on TV?!!

thank you for this six yr old vid now I know how my knock sensor circuit work

great video. I really liked the physical demonstration on scope and actual equipment. Especially phantom power demonstration was awesome.

Interestig, thanks. A tip for a next topic may be a talk over input impedence, i've read about it several times on tech specs of equipment, but did not get exactly how it affects the signal.

Thank you for this video!! I've been digging around trying to understand this topic. You state it in a way that I "get" it. Thank you!

Dude. you are a badass you could be working for freaking NASA, best explanation out there ,thank you

Super. The clearest explanation on RU-vid

Very informative and entertaining. I love how unfazed he is by the interruptions and just incorporates them into the video. Fun to watch.

This video is very important for every recording & studio engineers. Thanks a lot!

Great tutorials, simple and straight to the point, explaining is an art in itself. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

I've been using pro audio equipment for years and balanced return/send/earth cables are only required for signal sending over large distances like about twenty metres or more and generally unnecessary for bands doing small gigs on small rigs with their desk pretty close to the stage. Oh, I see you are explaining that, good job. If you cut the cable closer to the connector end you could just solder another one on.

Very nice article James.. Being following your videos for quite a time, especially on the Technics.. Hope you'll do more similar videos in the future. Learnt quite alot from your videos.. Greetings from Singapore

You are the greatest teacher keep doing this.

When does your audio class start! I've never had anyone speak so clearly and precise. I fully got all of that for the first time. Please make more videos of this type. Keep up the excellent work. Again, you should start an online class. I'll definitely sign up. Peace out!!!

Great video. You express your ideas very well and in a very thoughtful, natural way. Easy to understand.

That's just great. Thanks for the clear explanation. Nice one.

Great video, mate! Informative and entertaining. You remind me of my physics teacher.

Great explanation!!!!!! Thankyou for sharing. Hope you make a tutorial about understand -10, plus 4 db difernse in audio signal. Good luck.

Thanks for that very clear explanation. Like Wolfgang else mentioned, though, taking the earth off of say, your guitar amp, can (sometimes) lead to nasty shocks when your sweet, wet lips touch the mike. This has happened to me live (and I mean live!), as the earth was always disconnected on my amp plug, but when when connecting up to a festival sound system rather than our own. Zap! had to put a smelly sock over the mike! I didn't die, though I suppose I could have.

you have a knack for teaching! wonderful explanation

best I've seen. nice shoes too. can I admit I've been playing live gigs for 40 years, and this is the first time I understand what's going on with cabling? for shame

Thank you for this video - very clear and informative

Great job on this video. You explain things so well.

SO well explained

Not the kind of explanation I expected, but might be enough to warrant a purchase for many people.

Your videos are some of the best mate please make some more I'm enjoying them fully... I have a bit of a request for a video...since the technics 1200 is now officially out of production and the audio technica at lp 120 usb is a direct clone of the 1200 I would like to hear your thoughts and possibly a review of the lp 120 and comparison ! Cheers mate!

Your videos are Very imformative. All the info i needed you delivered then some!!! Keep em coming!!!

Great tutorial. Brilliant in fact. Regards. Shamil-South Africa

The most important thing you can do to eliminate noise background hum etc is to upgrade your mains leads to shielded mains lead's. Now this can be really expensive if you buy branded lead's but you can make them your self for a fraction of the price and this will also dramatically improve sound quality if you have a fairly decent system to start with.

Fantastic video, funny and very clever !! Thank you so much !!

Thank you! Your teaching method is spot on! Visual and practical. I finally understand.

Absolutely the best explanation of balanced vs unbalanced I have seen. Thanks!

Brilliant! Love the details, understand it so much better! And good humour!

you are doing a great job .A audio engineer like u is fantastic because most of dont how to teach they never share there knowledge properly,many...many..thanks...ple send me u,re male

Good work James and very detailed oriented. Thank you.

Great explanation and wonderful humor!

Very informative. Thank you!

Great Video!! You break it down the right way sir. cheers!

Well hell, I'll give to a like for wearing adidas, the helium comment, and the info. Good stuff!

Hi James, another excellent vid, very informative and amusing to boot ;-)

electrical tech, unboxing, funny remarks and kittens. good, youtube has taught you well young one.

Amazing video man, great job. Very helpful and very well done

Very good explanation of what a balance audio is. I had always thought or better still been taught TRS is a stereo audio now I know better, it aint!

This was such an awesome watch!! Appreciate your effort!!

Thanks for good video bud, cats are awesome. But frankly the sofa steals the show!

Great explanation and very good teacher !

Great explanation for the layman! Love the kittens at the end. >uu

Great explanation! Thank you for being so didactic and easy going with an often heavy topic for musicians... Cheers

Informative and hilarious - love!

thought you were in prison, welcome back!

Great video mate! Been a follower for years glad to see some new videos :-)

Fantastic. One of the most informative and useful videos I’ve ever seen on RU-vid. Great job!

Thanks for the video, I am trying to understand this stuff and you have helped!

So you need an inverter at the audio source and an un-inverter at the destination (speakers)?

Very very informative....

Excellent explanation. Bravo.

Very careful crafted video. Congrats!!!

Same here I stop everything when I get a delivery Christmas time all the time. Cheer mate

With what you described , How do you connect a XLR Main out DJ mixer to a Mixing Board with XLR ins that has a Stereo a spread button. I use a an ECLER NUO2 that has XLR Mains out and I run that into a Yamaha MG06 compact mixer using the 2 XLR ins for the mixer Stereo signal channel 1/2 and use the Stereo feature to split the sound and better control the sound (I think !) I use the XLR Main outs of that mixer to run the Powered monitors (all at the Local PUB) I am using the external Yamaha mixer in case an epic fail and I need to run an Ipod.

Thank you for this amazing explanation, the best ever!

Really good explanation. Thanks!

great video and a very professional approach, Thanx a lot, just must see video for a beginners at least.

Thank you for sharing this with us !

brilliant-finally someone who tells it in plain english-i get it ! so the 3rd ground wire is not actually necessary for the operation of the differential system-in that case in theory you could get the hot and ground wire from a quarter inch jack and connect them to the main terminals of a sm58 or similar and take the 2 twisted wires to the bit of the xlr that does the balancing and it would work? also with ground lift wouldnt it in some cases be like removing the equipotential bonding from your rads in a house? at some point there could be a pd enough to give a shock? prob why you get zapped on the lips sometimes!

Thank you so much for such detailed explanations!!

Best explanation ever!