Balanced Cables Explained for Beginner Audiophiles 

Thank you very much for making this video. This, so far, is the most detailed and understandable by layman's standards, explanation of balanced termination cables.

Just 2 years to go , I will get a good audiophile setup on my own earned money ✌🏻.

I've purposefully watched a few different channels attempt to explain balanced vs unbalanced and this video BY FAR nails it better than all the rest. Very well done, sir.

Thank you so much, that's very informative

This channel is a goldmine!

Absolutely the best explanation I've found about this topic. I'm a subscriber even if I go deaf!

Excellent video. Explained very well using simple terms.

Thanks Raghav. What cable do I use for connecting a Demo AH-D7200 headphone to a FiiO K3 DAC with a 2.2mm output socket ?

Thank you for your explanation!! I finally understand it

Thank you, very informative.

Excellent explanation. Thank you.

Keep these videos coming

Thank you!!

Thanks Raghav for this clear explanation. I recently upgraded to balanced cables for my 99 classics and can easily feel the difference. A quick question: For IEMs which are not power hungry, will the increased power provided by a balanced cable matter?

Good explanation

Is there a way to using balanced in a music venue setting for in ear monitoring?

Hi can you plz tell Do i need normal 6.35mm connector for my dac fx audio x6 or balanced one?? Am using beats solo 3 using 6.35mm male to 3.5mm female connector...Thank you!!

Thanks Raghav. Another eight minutes of perfect gyan ! Makes the using ( listening) through my IEM lot more interesting ! And a suggestion ; can we listen to you , in near future ;what’s new happening in DAC / headphones in next few months. Thanks !! ❤

Needed some recommended products on balanced cables.

Great explainer. I recently got the Hexa and the Tanchjim Space. This video convinced me to get a balanced cable to make the most of it all.

Can someone recommend me a balanced cable for Austrian audio Xi-15 headphones? I use a Focusrite scarlet Solo v3 as an amplifier. Thank you

Balanced connection usually reduces crosstalk and increases power output figures, but not every balanced amp is better than a single ended or vice a versa. The holy grail in Audiophilia is well implemented SINGLE ENDED directly heated triode configuration valve amp.

This video is exactly i was looking for, recently got Sennheiser IE 900. I was suggested to use balanced cables with a capable DAP. I wanted to see if it would be worth it as IE 900 felt underwhelming on my Samsung Galaxy s10E. Can you suggest some quality DAPs best fit for IE 900?

Great video, loved the detailed explanation. Just need some clarification.. I own CCA C10 which has a 0.75mm 2 pin cable and wanted to upgrade to a balanced cable but I only see 0.78mm 2 pin cables in the market.. :( Will it make a difference if I plug in a 0,78mm into my iem?

I dont see DAP specs mentioning that it has a Balanced Amplifier. Where can we check these specs? Please demo the usage of the Balanced cables (with and without Microphones)

Which would be best cable for salnotes zero under 1000rs

Hi I'm a newbie to the audiophile scene. I plan to get the KZ x HBB PR2 IEM. I have seen several reviews saying they are a very hard to drive headset and require a powerful dac-amp to deliver its full potential. What's the cheapest dac amp that I can get for this purpose? Will switching to a balanced cable and balanced amp help?

Thank you. That's probably one of the simplest, thorough, explanations on here. So, if I've got your explanations right...all the 4.4mm gives you is a 'better' connection. Separate Grounds? That sounds more fruity on its own. With my very limited understanding of electrickery, that would be wiser on its own, although more power is always nice, if things aren't split up fully there's always going to be opportunity for stuff to bung up. My question....Will I be wasting my time rooting out a 4.4mm MMCX cable for my Shure 215's?

Hi, thanks for informative video. Just trying to see whether my new headphones can be used with balanced cable and DAC. I just bought some Focal Elegia's. But the inputs to the headphones are 3.5mm. Can I buy a balanced cable with 4.5 to 3.5 left and right? Or do they only do 2.5mm left and right male connectors on balanced cables? Want to make sure before I buy a DAC/AMP. Thanks

was bedeutet Balanced Kopfhörer Kabel ? Lohnt es sich solch einen Kabel in Verbindung mit einem FIIO M15? Welches Kopfhörer wäre eine der besten ( On EAR)

HI I have 3.5 headphones, can I use 3.5 female to 4.4 male adapter to benefit the full sound quality?

I have a 2.5 mm jack cable which i want to use with a 3.5mm female port, are there converters available for that somewhere?

Hey, i am running a Sennheiser 6xxx with ifi hip dac 2, which has a balanced output, so are u recommending to get a Balance cable for that ? can you please recommend a good brand/model of the cable. Thanks Bro.

Hello, I am completely new to the audiophile scene. I am torn between the HD600 and HD660SE2. I usually listen to jazz and classic rock (Beatles, CCR, Eagles and stuff) and would like to know which of these would be better suited for such type of music? Also, would the Fiio K7 make a good choice to pair alongside? Currently using Shure 215 and Momentum 4 if that helps. Thank you.

can you suggest the best iem under 10k for balanced/extra bass sound signature/v shaped

Nicely explained again. If we can get some recommendations for purchase in the end, it will be like a sweet dish after the main course🙂

I have a fiio new k3 and Sennheiser hd560s, ordered a balanced cable and i cant wait to hear thw different

Can I upgrade my tin hifi t3 plus with balance cable? As it is not a native balance IEM, upgrading the cable with 4.4 balanced I don't think it will make any sound difference. Because that IEM is not designed for balance connection.Please correct me if in wrong..

So, Im getting My 1st IEM and with that im also getting a 4.4mm cable, But My phone has 3.5mm jack. So Does an adaptor of 3.5mm to 4.4mm would work ? So that I can use my phone.

What in your opinion are some of the best, most accessible/affordable options for hearing a balanced connection for the first time? I want to listen with the 4.4mm pentaconn connection on my Hip Dac 2, but am having trouble finding balanced headphones in my price range. Excellent video!

Do kz zex get benefits from balanced cable?, I'm using a astell & kern xb10

Excellent

I am using Moondrop Chu II, the volume from the right friver is lower than the left driver. I tried cleaning the iems but there has been no difference. Can you recommend which cable i should buy to solve this issue?

Please help me understand one more thing. The ends of the balanced cable that go to the headphones. They are not mini jacks like what go into my Hifiman HE 560. How do I get balanced cables into my HE 560s? Thank you.

Think before going to balanced cable. I too jumped into balanced cable for my Hexa after consulting with Headphone guru. Since I had Fiio BTR7 and it has fairly high balanced out, I bought a good balanced cable for it. Learnt one thing from it. Only the loudness increases, say 20%. The loudness muddies clarity which I literally hate. The stock Hexa's 3.5m cable itself is very good with clarity and I can listen for long hours without ear pain. I felt it's waste of money by purchasing Tripowin C8 for hexa. I guess balanced out/cables make sense when powered with only power hungry IEMS or headphones.

So can i just upgrade any IEM's cables to balanced? What are some great IEMs to start with?

What if you use a 3.5mm connexion cable with a 3.5 to 4.4 converter to plug in your amp dac? Does it work the same or do u actually need a balanced cable that already comes with 4.4mm?

keep do these kinds of videos

Okay, but what if I’m going into an AUX in, for a car stereo, and not into headphones? I only have a 3.5mm at that end. What should I do? Is impossible to achieve a balanced connection in my case?

Can I use 4.4 mm balanced cable on KZ ZAR with fiio KA3 DAC

my 1st IEM which I bought i am facing suddenly from past 1 month is that right ear IEM is having more sound then my left ear. I bought KZ ZNX PRO X - GOLD). Please suggest me what should I do now as I don't know what issue is here is my IEM is not working or my IEM cable, please tell me how do I resolve it i don't wanna waste money if i buy cable again and i got to know that my IEM is actually not working, I stay in Mumbai do you have any service center where i can show it too.!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you recomand for a iem cable with headphone

Am a regular performing musician and have always used pretty cheap IEMs. Been wanting to upgrade to planar IEMs or some other high quality IEMs. I use a Sennheiser for bodypack and transmitter. If I buy IEMs that are 4.4 will they still fit where the 3.5 fit? Silly question. But the numbers are throwing me off and making me think that the 4.4 will be bigger and not fit.

Which balance AMP do you recommend for Audeze LCD2C?

Since TWS earphones do not have a ground wire, then does it mean that they do not suffer from cross talk?

Suggest me good cable for 7hz salnote zero

Not just playing the bass But playing the bass with precision If normal earphone get that, it would be heavenly

How to find balance output dac and amp

Are there balanced wireless headphones?

you should defenetly change your micropfone changes. it sounds like dull and blunt like there is something between you and the microphone like a paper or a door

typo in the title!

Sir, I've been facing problem in finding a cheap DAC under 1k for 7hz Selnotes Zerso Type C with mic The problem is that the IEM is already having type C connector. So what should I do now ??

Correction: Denon AH-D7200 headphone

This is a very layman explanation, and I disagree with the main argument. It is not about power and cross-talk issues. If you hear cross-talk using an unbalanced cable setup, the headphone amplifier simply has a very poor grounding topology in the output stage. Balanced audio connections are all about the +/- (or "live" and "ground") being terminated in the same impedance (i.e. both the live and ground terminating in the same resistor or same voice coil) allowing for much better common-mode noise rejection as well as eliminating (some) of the ground signal topology issues non-balanced amplifiers can suffer from. This is far more applicable to audio interconnects (low signal level, high termination impedance) than it is to speaker and headphone connections. Conventional amplifier topology means that if the input is balanced, usually the output needs to be as well, hence balanced speaker/headphone outputs are more a necessary result of a desired balanced topology further up the chain. Balanced connections make a lot of sense, in the right places. But e.g. having a setup with unbalanced audio interconnects combined with a balanced speaker/headphone output makes far less sense. I appreciate the effort here to try and address a layman audience, but unfortunately, avoiding the trap of spending loads of money where it matters least, involves getting a bit educated about the technology. For the balanced vs. unbalanced argument this involves learning about signal levels, noise levels, output & input impedances, common-mode rejection, and amplifier & grounding topologies.

Promo SM

balanced cables can give you more power that's it they have literally No Effect on the sound whatsoever now if the dac or amp has some kind of difference between their own single ended and balanced outputs that's a different story but if they are quality build the only difference should be power output nothing else

Calling a balanced headphone amp balanced is a bit misleading. They call it balanced for marketing purposes. A balanced headphone amp is really a bridged stereo amp. And if you are familiar with bridged power amps, there are some negatives. The reason there's so much more volume is when you bridge an amp, the headphone or speakers, show the amp 1/2 the resistance as normal. For example, a 8 ohm load is now a 4 ohm load, a 4 ohm load is now a 2 ohm load. Needless to say, its hard on the amp. It has to work twice as hard to drive the exact same headphones/speakers when not bridged. I'm not saying you shouldn't go balanced. You just need to be careful. I would not assume any balanced headphone amp will work well with any pair of headphones that allow a balanced connection. You should buy them as a pair. Make sure both pieces will work well together before you make a purchase. My own personal view is, I would buy an amp that has enough power to drive the speakers/headphones unbridged. In most cases, bridging an amp sacrifices sound quality. If your headphone amp is having a difficult time, it may sound better if you bridge the amps for more power. But that's it. I wouldn't do it for any other reason. Aside from that, there still may be some confusion. If you buy a balanced headphone amp, you have to make sure its the right kind of balancing you need. So far, we have been talking about balancing/bridging the output of a headphone amp. These are not common at all. However, its very common to have balanced connections on the input of a headphone amp. 95% of the time, this is the type of balancing you will find on a headphone amp. It can accept a balanced line level signal. And this has absolutely nothing to do with using balanced cables on a pair of headphones. So, when you're shopping, you can safely assume almost every balanced headphone amp you look at will not work with balanced headphones. It will accept a balanced line level signal from another component, like a cd player.

The video has a bit of misconception They don't sound "better" Balanced cables remove noise from the signal. The vast majority of consumers don't have noise in their signal Anyone can cross check what i said from tests made by many youtube channels

Buy a decent earphones around 1.5k, don't waste your money.

Just to give you guys a proof that these guys are serious. The headphone stands in the background each cost 5k and they have 31 of those. That's 1lakh 55thousands. ☠️

Most Hilarious Thing is There is No Significant Difference in Sound Quality Except Power. The Volume Gets Almost Doubled But Sound Quality Change is Mere 5%!!