Kyle - as a “recovering academic” (former computer science and business prof) I know that one of the hardest things to do when explaining a topic is to decide on an appropriate level of detail. Your videos are excellent - short enough to cover a single topic in enough detail to help the viewer but long enough to give a memorable example (like the hum in your long cable audio example). Keep up the good work.
I agree, Kyle's doing a good job hitting that "sweet spot". You don't want to bore the people who know some or all of it already, while making it interesting enough for those learning it for the first time. Hard to do that, but wonderful when you can.
I'm a bit older than you! Ha! When l was a kid Balanced cables were able to go 600 feet or more. Unbalanced went 10 feet w/o losing the high frequencies. So 1/4" was for things like guitars and interconnects for audio equipment. The ballanced was for Mike's and long distant ballanced audio connections. If we got interference from RF we made a circular loop of cable to act as a choke. If we got hum the rule of thumb was to separate the audio cables from power lines 6-10 feet so no induction happened. And not to run parallel runs and if you had to cross you crossed your lines at 90 degree angles. But I'd say you did a good job of explaining it. 🙂
Unbalanced doesn’t need to lose high frequencies. The only reason why that happened on old gear is because the connection was poorly designed, for example on passive electric guitar pickups. The signal there is high impedance and reactive. A 20 m cable would sound shockingly dull compared to a 2m one. This is a design flaw that balancing wouldn’t fix. A low-impedance line-level unbalanced signal will not lose high frequencies any more than a balanced signal. It will, however, get very noisy over longer runs, which is why balancing is necessary. This is even worse for small signals such as those of microphones, which can often be over 100 times quieter.
@@distortingjack old fashioned curly lead acts as a choke inductor, loses some high frequencies: popular with strat and tetcasters to take the edge off like Jimi Hendrix
I disagree this one time with you Curtis. The explanation is not simple enough for the viewers. Just read the comments. You and I understand what he says but that proves nothing because we already know what a balanced signal is. understanding a video when you already know is always easy :)
I just saw your presentation on balanced vs unbalanced. First, thanks for the reference to my work. Second, and the reason I'm writing, is to give you a big thumbs up!! You got it exactly right! In my nearly 30 years of teaching seminars on the subject of system noise, I'm always amazed by the number of technicians and engineers (even textbooks) who cling to the idea that signals on the balanced lines must be of equal level and opposing polarity - this is a provably wrong idea that just won't go away! Thanks for helping to dispel the myth!
Wow! It’s a huge honor to read this validating comment, especially considering that I fell victim to this myth not too long ago! I hope this is truly THE Bill Whitlock writing this comment! Thank you, if so.
@@AudioUniversity the topic of a balanced cable has not been fully disclosed, since there are balanced wires for headphones, there are also balanced audio DACs, they work on a different principle, to the topic of noiseless sound, I would touch on the optics pluses and minuses, as well as a modern Internet cable that modern DJ consoles use and digital sound amplifiers, this brings us to the topic of digital sound and sound processors, which also have a lot of types, for a car, for films, for pop acoustics, for microphone feedback protection, for phase correction and room correction and other useful things)
As most interference induces an emf voltage, why aren’t there audio interfaces based on current, with a high output impedance and a low input impedance? I understand that transatlantic analog cables work this way. Or are there caveats? Or is it that most (all?) sound sources/sensors are, just as the EMI sources, voltage sources with a low output impedance? Which would require active devices to transfer the voltage into current.
I second your statement. Spent 12 weeks in the communications chapters of my schooling and cancellation hasn’t been explained that clear the entire time I was in college. Even after I’ve been in the field the last 12 years and understand the concept completely, it was the clearest and to the point example I’ve seen.
it only seems super clear because you already know what he's talking about. I for one don't exactly understand how the differential device operates. and why was it unbalanced on 1+2 and balanced on 2+3?!
@@jazzochannel it’s balanced on 2 and 3 because you have a differential pair that connects to those two ports. Where as on the unbalanced you have a single line that drives the signal on port 2 and a ground on port 1. The differential signaling is what makes it balanced
i always see engineers being surprised by basic information... I work in IT and I just had to educate a computer scientist about first hop redundancy protocols... like wtf are you guys studying? your degree is worth nothing
As a music teacher, I must say you explain this much better than I could’ve ever done. I’m inspired! Great use of visual aids and a perfect amount of detail, depth and length of the video. I will definitely show this video to my students!
This might be one of the most clear, intuitive, and interesting explaination of something technical on RU-vid. I don't think I've learned so much in such a short video ever...
I'll save everyone time. They don't sound "better". Balanced cables remove noise from the signal. The vast majority of consumers don't have noise in their signal.
You have some small noise in signal. But most of the time you don't hear it. But If you have more noise, when you have more cables running together - power cables, audio cables and so on - then balanced is the best thing since sliced bread ;) That's why all computer network cables are always balanced. They are Balanced Twisted Pairs. Remove the balance, and from 1Gig network you will only get 10Mbsp (or lower), due to noise.
@@benjimenfranklin7650 No. Most cables are shielded. There is a processing part to balanced signals on the receiving side. Balanced cables use two signal wires; both carry a copy of the signal, but the two copies are sent with their polarity reversed. If you sum two signals that are identical but are reversed in polarity, the signals cancel out, leaving you with silence. So it's a nice signal processing trick to eliminate the noise.
@@Wordsalad69420 Shielded cables are more expensive and unwieldy than unshielded cables but offer increased protection against electromagnetic interference (EMI) that can slow down or disable electrical systems. Unshielded cables are easier to install and maintain but are not protected from EMI.
even though these are things i already understand, i still love watching these videos to hear it explained by others (not just this but everything i "think" i understand already LOL). Subbed!
When I started in audio, I was in school to become an electromechanical technician. Learning the use of Op Amps in analog servomechanisms, turns out to be VERY useful in professional audio. They are exactly the same! You start with the input transducer (mic), which gets amplified (pre-amp), then filtered to stop any hunting (EQ), then summed with other error signals (mixing), then to the power amplifier, and then to the servo motor (speaker). While most industrial operations can use basic op amps like the 741, the TLO82 is also verry common. The TLO82 is used almost universally in professional audio due to it's very low noise. It's found in all pre-amps, filters, summing amps, and VCAs. The TLO84 is a dual or quad version of the TLO82, but has higher noise due to having multiple amps in one package. That's why high-end boards like the Cadac were so freaking heavy, but almost dead quiet! And you could fix them on the fly, unlike digital.
I believe you are thinking of the TL072. While you do occasionally see an 82/84, the 72/74 is far more common. That being said, they are only common for the low price, performance isn't amazing unless you need a high input Z. Otherwise, an NE5532/4 will typically preform much better for a little bit extra cost(but not much!)
the fun thing about op amps is, the power supply to them comes in 2 flavors too, either balanced/dual (vcc+ and vcc- are both required), or unbalanced (just vcc+) since DC cannot pass into the negative without having an actual supply that provides negative voltage, on the unbalanced opamps, their zero DC offset point is shifted to half the input voltage instead. you'll have to create half the voltage by making a little 2-equal-resistor short circuit and add that voltage to the input signal in order to dc bias it properly prior to sending it to the unbalanced opamp that will be used as preamp. otherwise all of the negative phase of signal on the AC input side will be negated, it can not go or see under 0, so they'll end up multiplying by zero, which is nothing, so they have to be that way you basically divide your maximum amplitude by 2 compared to the balanced ones that have their zero point at exactly 0 volts, this perfectly illustrates why balanced outputs are 6db hotter, they have exactly twice the amplitude headroom/double the voltage range and obviously it's a bit less clean since you're just recycling the same vcc+ signal, rather than have a clean seperate negative signal coming from the supply, you'll notice if the supply is dodgy, amplifiers are really only as good as their power supply. this is how many guitar stompboxes on 9v blocks work, but they don't have noise issues with dirty power supplies as they run off their own batteries, they're seperated from the grid the resistors on the AC input side will keep the signal from flowing back into the instrument as the path of least resistance is to the opamp input, and ofcourse the DC portion on the output signal has to be filtered out with a condenser/capacitor on the end of the output side, so it only lets the AC signal through too.
Very good video. Balanced cabling is really all about removing noise when operating in electrically noisy environments. Unfortunately way too many in the audio community equate "more expensive" with "higher sound quality", which is not the case with balanced cabling at all, unless you have a noisy environment.
Well, audiophiles think that expensive ethernet cables make a difference in audio quality, so I'm not entirely surprised that they think that balanced cabling magically gives you better audio quality.
Very good point! To exploit an xlr cable the source and the receiving gadget must be constructed balanced! P.s why do the hifi fanatics not use gold, which is the best leader!?
Thank you so much for including an actual comparison between the two. I've been looking for someone that'll actually let us listen to the sound since I've been having this problem with my xlr cable. I'm getting the same buzzing sound. I think there's a problem with the cable since, sometimes, the buzzing will stop after I've moved the cable around just right, even though I didn't really do much moving. The information in the video is good to know when I go out to look for a new one. Thanks again.
Hello. I don't know if you have fixed your problem completely, but just wanted to let you know that I had a similar issue and it turned out to be a router that I had near my XLR cables. The router's antennas were picking up radio signals and transferring them to the cable. Hope that helps in any way to you or anyone else reading this.
This is for you or for anyone who is reading comments, as demonstrated in this video, balanced ones could cancel interference noise, but also a more expensive cable which has excellent shielding, like a $50 cable could shield your sound from such interference; if you have allot of devices, or devices close to your cable at any part of it, buy a more expensive xlr cable~ The difference in shielding between a $5-$40 is small, but $50 and above is huge, as an example~ I do recommend watching a video or reading on which cable does shielding the best~ If you put what this video is showing together with what I've said then you want an expensive Balanced XLR Cable to help you with this or such issues~ Hope this helps someone~
@@CelestialMelody Cost isn't everything! I'd advise looking at the actual specifications instead, as there are many expensive products that are vastly inferior to cheaper alternatives.
@@anzer789the geometry doesn't work out perfectly if the router antenna is almost touching the audio cable or the cable is right against a very radio-reflective surface (concrete wall or floor). Often times buzzing noises is from power supplies, the big old magnet with lots of wire wound around it is beaming out EM waves and the electrical wiring in the power outlet like to pick that up and ruin the proper ground for the rest of the house. Putting wall-wart adapters on little extension strips usually helps, so does rotating the freezer just a little bit until the speakers stop popping every time the freezer compressor switches on.
A pretty good effort at a complex subject. A couple of points - (i) The impedance of the line will be mainly determined by the input impedance of the “receiver” not the resistance of the wires. (ii) Probably the main point about balanced connections is they guarantee a phenomenon called ground loops is avoided in which very large currents flow through a circuit formed by the shield and the ground connection, which in turn generate noise voltages if the signal is also carried by the shield. Your illustration generates a lot of noise because it creates a ground loop. In fact unbalanced connections will usually do better than this test suggests because they are designed to have only a single ground connection and hence break the ground loop.
I think I was experiencing this so called ground loop and it was only after I routed my subwoofer power cables to the same socket as my audio equipment that the noise finally been eliminated!
Better than most of the explanations I've heard and seen. A little history: balanced lines are nothing new to audio. They are just new to consumer audio. Balanced signal lines, microphone and line level, have been used by broadcasters and in motion picture production since the 1930's. And it is for exactly the benefit you describe: noise cancelling. In pre-1970's or so, microphones and input circuits used small transformers to attain the balanced connection (and make changes to the impedance). Since then, audio transformers have become unfashionable because of their bits of distortion they introduce. You can conjecture that you must have purity -- even if you're recording Britney or heavy metal, eh? In consumer audio, one good purpose of balanced is to reduce noise in long signal cables that run from preamps to powered speakers. And, they're cheap -- you can use XLR microphone extension cables.
MAN, thank you for this! I'm ashamed to admit how long I've been a musician who just couldn't make heads or tails of what "balanced vs unbalanced" means, and I FINALLY get it. Thank you thank you thank you.
When I purchased an amp-preamp combo with balanced connectors I went balanced, and the difference was real, I also use balanced on my phono stage hookup to my pre-amp, since that is inherently balanced . The way to go, really
Off topic some, I greatly appreciated the straight presentation style. A nice speaking voice, excellent articulation with incisive content. It did the job efficiently. So many instructional RU-vid videos with speakers using “awesome” colloquialisms while bopping endlessly around is offensive even while it has become the norm. Frankly, I was astonished by the presentation style and now I know a little bit more about balanced and unbalanced cables! Thanks!
I noticed these presentation-related items too. HONESTLY they contributed _greatly_ to my deciding to stay with the presentation, once I "checked in" . Dan- Thanks for mentioning these things. To AU- please heed these things mentioned here. These are VERY important to making an effective presentation, and are often overlooked by other Y-T Presenters not aware that they can have a real effect on the receptiveness of the intended audience to the material being shared. And AU & Dan- THANKS to both of you ! - C.
I was cringing as I awaited the "remember to like and subscribe and check out our patreon etc etc" cliche RU-vid segment. I was pleasantly surprised when it never came. Just a quick tag at the end. Well done.
What you're describing is called "phase cancelation" that is what I got from your quoted info. This is more about electromagnetic frequencies and their vibrational relationships and less about electronics/electricity or wires. You can experiment with this by taking two speakers and and playing the same hz through both but flip the polarity of one and you will hear a significant drop in SPL. This is also used industrially to calculate and dampen vibrations in exhaust systems or large assemblies,or bridges, by calculating the resonant frequency. Same way you would measure a room and wavelengths to know where to put your baffles or bass traps for acoustical treatment. By being balanced, any electrical noise would be "in phase" and thus like you said, induces noise cancelling because the waves traveling through the wire physically cancel each other out at their end. Good video!
As a physicist, let me add just a few things to your already very clear explanation. Perhaps someone will find them helpful. First, there is no such thing as absolute "level" or voltage. Voltage is always measured between two things. So not only are you correct in saying that the signals in the two wires don't need to be the same - they aren't even _defined_ individually; all that counts is the voltage between them. Unless you measure them against some other potential, such as ground. But in my understanding you don't have to do that, since both are floating anyway. Second, if the circuit is closed, i.e. both a driver and a receiver, as you call them, are connected, then any current flowing through one wire will simultaneously flow through the other in the opposite (spatial) direction. If now a changing magnetic field from a noise source induces an EMF at one section of these wires, this will try to push the electrons in the same _spatial_ direction in both wires; but in one wire this will try to accelerate the current while in the other it will try to decelerate the current, thus the effect is cancelled out. What you describe as a "differential device" in the receiver need be no more complicated than a load of certain resistance connecting the two wires, and a volt meter across them. Third, although it wasn't needed for your explanation and so you rightfully skipped it, the shielding around the twisted pair is actually an important additional piece of noise protection. It creates a Faraday cage around the signal wires with equal potential all around it. That way, the EM field inside it will be (net) zero, and external radio waves will be deflected around the center.
Great overview. Just enough detail to answer most questions. I’d like to see you continue with options for converting between balanced & unbalanced, as well as mentioning active and passive methods.
Excellent job of explaining the topic. Most often the input device that the balanced signal is connected to is an operational amplifier which as you stated, amplifies the difference between the signals on the cables thus providing common mode rejection.
Excellent tutorial. More clearer than some professionals. Next time I'm asked about this I'll send them your way. Something I didn't see in the comments is when using active balance equipment which is more predominant today, should one signal wire become intermittent you may notice the audio level might still be present but may vary by about 6 db. Because normally an active balanced arrangement produces about 6 db more signal than an unbalanced arrangement. If anyone experiences this, check your connections.
This video should be a template on "how to make a good educational video". Seriously, congratulations. Everything you need is there, it's not rushed, it's not dragged, no wasted time with unnecessary stuff.
Nice video! Although, I think the explanation of impedance is incorrect. It is true that wire gauge affects the resistance of a conductor-double the cross-section area -> half the overall resistance, double the conductor length -> double the overall resistance. But this is usually only relevant for power cables which will heat up under heavy load, not low-current signal cables. The word "impedance" isn't usually used in this context. Bill Whitlock actually says in the quote that the impedance in question is from the balanced circuit "to ground and to all other conductors". Not the resistance from driver to receiver, along the cable's length, but from signal to ground, straight through the cable's insulator to the shield. Or, more likely, through the output/input impedances of the driver/receiver, respectively. Still, good explanation of the concepts, and nice job with the audio sample at the end.
High-quality noise rejection does require that the impedances of the two lines are well matched. In the case of a long cable, for example, where the two conductors were mismatched by 1 ohm in their end-to-end resistance, the noise rejection would be limited to 40dB at best, assuming a typical 100 ohm driver impedance and a noise source near the receiver end.
Doh I been doing this forever, and i watched this vid just to freshen up again on my original learning 20 plus years ago for some odd reason the noise i was getting i like forgot that the cords needed to be balanced to cut noise. Had to give physically the circuits the ability to differential amplify and cancel out the noise so i would get pure signal. Had 1 stupid cable coming off my cam to my pc it was a cheap unbalanced line and i had a balanced line cord that matched the other cables in the chain... so i simply took out the one there and put in the matching cabling, and low and behold! *horns from above* Sounds like a million bucks again. Thanks dude! Retaught a old dog old tricks he should of not forgotten! Is SO important with analog gear! Thanks again for the refresher. One i will not forget anytime soon! :D
I would imagine that this would be far more important in a studio or stage where noise is introduced prior to a pre-amp and amp then exaggerated 5 times. In situations where several cables and power cable over long runs would cause these issues. In a home, I wouldnt think balanced connections would matter as much. Is that fair to say?
In homes, the cable runs are usually quite short - 15’ or so. Unless you’ll be running line level signals over a longer distance, unbalanced connections are far less important.
It depends. In a home system, balancing is primarily done for sound quality benefits, where on the pro side, its done for more practical reasons like noise and cable length. The most important thing to keep in mind is there's more than one way to implement balancing in an audio circuit. Balancing on equipment like we're dealing with here is balanced from connection to connection. What that means is a component generates a single ended signal and sends it to the output. The signal at output is then converted to balanced. When the balanced signal reaches the downstream component, it gets converted back to single ended. This isn't the best way to do it, but it does provide real benefits. On most high end home gear, its done differently. The best way to do balancing is to make the component itself balanced, and not convert the signal at all. But Its very expensive. You need to double up on all the components in the signal path. The easiest way to visualize it, is you need to provide a path for the extra signal conductor that a balanced circuit requires. When the whole system is fully balanced, that's when you start to notice a difference in sound quality. The reason fully balanced components are rare in the pro audio world, is the cost can be extremely high. On a home system, you have 2 channels going through a few components. Balancing something like a studio mixer that can have over 4o or 50 channels, makes it too expensive to be practical. Please keep in mind that this post is just to give a basic explanation. This topic can get more technical, but it would be too long to put it all in a post. But the overall concept is correct.
As a side note, the concepts for balanced and unbalanced signals apply to many other things in electronics beyond audio cabling. Television and radio antenna cables would use round shielded unbalanced coaxial cables (75-ohm for TV/FM, 50-ohm for CB radio, for example) or flat 300-ohm balanced twinlead. A little transformer would be used to convert TV/FM between BALanced and UNbalanced cables, or known as a BALUN for short. Most Ethernet cables these days use balanced twisted-pair cables with different specification categories (CAT3, CAT5, CAT5E, CAT6) but originally it used coax. Now all kinds of media in our homes uses unshielded twisted pair (UTP) cabling for networking, video, you name it. The same basic principles for balanced and unbalanced cables still apply.
@@AudioUniversity You're certainly welcome! Basic understanding of things like this acts as building blocks for understanding other more complex things. If you can grasp the details of whichever parts you do know, there are fewer new things to worry about.
Great update! I remember commenting on your first balanced audio video, getting nit-picky about some of the finer points of balanced audio. You've covered them fantastically in this video.
Firstly this video was absolutely flawless. It was so well done with its rich information yet simple presentation. Secondly, I have to express my gratitude because you just explained what I believe a problem that has been plaguing me for years. I have had a personal home studio for over a decade and have struggled to get rid of the buzzing and humming in my recordings and in my mixer. I had heard of balanced and unbalanced connections but didn't really understand the difference between the two. After watching your video I found that I have a mixture of balanced and unbalanced cables. I just thought all 1/4 inch cables were the same. I just did a quick check and lo and behold the unbalanced cables are the ones causing the buzzing. The irony is that when I have replaced these cables I apparently kept getting unbalanced ones. Although I have used Pyle hum destroyers to get rid of some of the noise my latest purchase was causing signal loss where I was losing the low end of the sound. Your video just changed everything. Thank you so much for this. Keep up the good work. By the way I just subscribed to your channel.
All of your videos are amazing! I am an electrical engineer and I found this video very helpful! I love thinking about how all the music we enjoy may not be possible if it were not for the magic of physics and the engineers who have worked hard to develop technologies that we can use to record, perform, and broadcast clean sounding audio signals.
Just to let you know that I appreciate high quality sound system. Since I (electrical engineer) have none experience with sound systems you hooked me up and I subscribed within first 25sec of the video. Happy to join this educational train! Cheers!
You will find many applications of balanced cable use in automotive applications not actually related to the ICE where numerous sensors require a balanced input into its respective controller. ABS breaking systems have been using twisted pairs since their inception as a vehicle generates both AC and supplies DC to various controllers . A vehicle wiring loom is a great source of quality cable for building audio circuits as you will find all the various types you need for your tube amp or other audio project, from twisted pairs to multcore twisted pair shielded to single core hook up wire in high current thin wall insulation in a variety of guages , plus high temperature ptfe coated and silicon reinforced protective tubing . The elimination of cross talk between vehicle systems is more important than static audio use ( could you imagine your ABS sensors picking up signal from your alternator for example ?) so quality cabling is used throughout a vehicle. Sadly the demise of the boot mounted CD changer has removed one source of highly useful audio cable with both twisted pair balanced and unbalanced shielded cable all in one reasonably small diameter cable able to take a supply voltage as well as carry clean signals. You may have noticed that theses PCMs or ECUS as some still call them have multiple ground wires emanating from them , one or 2 may be simply for the power supply itself the remainder are isolated grounds from the differential device installed in the controller as a motor vehicle is isolated from a true ground by its tyres and must operate on a ground plane system . The next step up in wiring systems is the aerospace industry of course .
Got a good one for you. After spending a couple of hours tracking down intermittent hum & buzz I found it was from the recessed fluorescent light fixture directly under my guitar stand. The sound would get louder and quieter and disappear as I would move around my studio with my guitar. My wife was going in and out of the kitchen flipping the light on and off as she was making snacks. So she finally got the dual track lighting she wanted the next day. Two happy campers. Then the Harvey flood changed everything. Good explaining of balanced/unbalanced.
One additional benefit that you might mention about a balanced connection, you get a 6 decibel gain without raising your floor noise. That's partially why balanced connections sound instantly quieter
Perfectly explained. There reason for twsited pair inside the balanced connection is to minimize the pick-up in the calble itself, because the field will have a positieve and negative impact on the signal. After the signal is received, an opamp gain stage (that is a differential amplifier) will cancel out (also calles CMRR, common mode rejection ratio) and it will almost not amplify the common mode signal. Often it supresses in range of 120-140dB
Very informative. I had just bought a pair of Adam Audio T7V...unsure I ordered both balanced and unbalanced cables..ty very much for your videos...I'm a certified audio engineer too lol🙄🙄 and I am very grateful for the knowledge you share. Gunalcheesh (ty) from Alaska 🥶
Kyle, it would be helpful to explain the inverting and non-inverting inputs of a differential device. By using the example of the same noise on both signals, one can easily see how noise is canceled.
@@GladeSwope The signal is + and - at a balanced output. When the signal arrives at a differential input: the + input is non inverting, the - input is inverting thereby canceling any noise on the balanced line
As for the hum/noise that is being picked-up along the way (between the "driver" and the "receiver") if the shielding is properly made, the difference is negligible in real life (few yards of interconnect cables, say between the preamp and the power amp in a typical home audio system. And the systems themselves are generally made "by design" in an "unbalanced mode" (so to speak): the connection between standard guitar (any Gibson or Fender out there...) and it's amp (6.3 millimeters "banana" port on both ends), devices like analog turntable/CD/DVD player and a home hi-fi p amp (chinch ports on both ends), typical computer sound card and the amp (3.5 millimeter "banana" ports/connectors on both ends) etc. etc.
5:22 I suspect that your comparison may be incorrect since your ground wire is not wrapped around signal wire forming shield with your setup in unbalanced mode.
Good job. Some additional details: 1) Balanced audio is usually a much stronger +4dBu signal vs. -10dBu for unbalanced audio 2) The balanced signals are out of phase by 180° but the noise on each line is in phase. When the signals are differentially summed, the voltage of the original signal doubles while the noise component cancels. This is called common mode noise rejection. 3) Twisting wires to reduce interference goes back to the earliest days of stringing telephone wires on poles over long distances and works for unbalanced signals. Just look inside an old radio or tube amp to see this practice. 4) A four conductor balanced cable is twisted per pair and then the pairs are twisted together to improve the rejection of noise. 5) The ground pin of a male XLR cable is longer than the other two pins and prevents the pops heard when inserting a balanced TRS cable or unbalanced TS cable.
I've done audio and video for 30 years, and I still learned something from this. It's one of those things where you know it works, but you don't know why. Until now!
This was very informative! I guess my question is: why do we still use unbalanced cables? Is there a situation in which unbalanced is necessary? I know companies still make say, interfaces with RCA inputs. But if the quality is so much better with balanced, why is unbalanced even a thing in 2021?
It isnt so much better with balanced, balanced is just better at rejecting noise. Over reasonable lengths of cable runs, this is not a concern so unbalanced is more than adquet, and making it balanced would only drive up the cost with little if no benefit
You need to be a little kid to ask the hardest scientific question. The best unbalanced cables are electrically balanced and work well even in microphone lines. Moreover, the most precision unbalanced cables are made of balanced cables, and this helps to solve the problem of grounding in the equipment cases. And finally, the most critical connections work best with a three-wire balanced connection, but this is beyond the fight against the harshest electromagnetic interference. Thank you for your serious real scientific question.
@@ВладимирИльин-о4к None of what you just said is true. "The best unbalanced cables are electrically balanced" wrong, electrically balanced implies that the balancing/unbalancing process is handled by an IC like the THAT 1200 series, which require 2 conductors and a shield(something unbalanced cable lacks), it is especially a bad idea to used unbalanced for mic cable runs, as mic level signal is very low, and cable run lengths are long, even more of a bad idea if you have SMPS power supplies anywhere even remotely near by. "Moreover, the most precision unbalanced cables are made of balanced cables, and this helps to solve the problem of grounding in the equipment cases" again, untrue. Grounding is not an issue with single conductor+shield unbalanced cable as long as simple rules are adhered to.
Here's another angle on explaining balancing, that helped me. music gets sent down 2 wires from a balanced output, which reverses the polarity of one of the wires. Wire 1: +M (for Music) Wire 2: -M Both wires pick up 'Noise', so Wire 1: +M +N (for noise) Wire 2: -M +N The unbalancing circuit of the recieving device takes both signals, reverses the polarity of Wire 2, both the mucic, and the noise, turning Wire2: -M +M into +M -N and sums the two signals together. So, the sum is +M +M +N -N. The +N -N parts cancel eachother out. Result is 2M(usic) with no N(oise)
Wow, man. Thanks for a right-to-the-point video. Very tired of stupid intros, BGM and too enthusiastic people. I just want the information well delivered in a composed manner. Kudos!
Am I understanding you correctly, that if I just run a simple cable with two identical wires without shielding from my amplifier to my speaker (ideally twisted), this will be a balanced connection?
That won't work. The video misses one important point in that the input device has to combine the + and - signals by inverting the polarity of the - signal. Without this polarity inversion, the noise imprinted on the - signal wire will not cancel with the positive. You would essentially just be doubling the noise. Amplifiers to speakers are unbalanced connections. The only way to convert the signal to a balanced connection is through the use of a transformer or active circuitry.
I only say this because I like you young man. I really appreciate this video and the knowledge you share. You shouldn’t say “honestly” when talking. I am not even halfway through your video and I have heard you say “honestly” and “if I am being honest” I am curious if your going to make this statement again. I hear lots of young people saying that lately(mostly girls) it’s a contagious thing to say. I myself have been saying “seriously” and not “honestly” it makes it sound like normally you wouldn’t speak the truth. It’s just a weird thing to say. Anyway like I said I take the time to share this with you because you seem like and honest person reshuffles (as you keep saying) you do not need to empathise you honestly just be honest and that will do. Great video Thank You
Another important factor is most unbalanced cable applications are high impedance, such as guitar amp inputs near 50 to 100K ohms, RCA at about 20K ohms, etc. There are some karaoke microphones that are unbalanced, but lower impedance at between 200 ohms and 1K ohms. Low impedance on cables helps reduce noise pickup by shunting the generally high impedance noise to ground. Balanced XLR is generally between 100 ohms an 600 ohms impedance. Microphones are typically in that range and the input of the amp is generally 600 ohms. Line level amplifiers such as powered speakers commonly have 10K to 20K input impedance so they can be daisy chained without overloading the signal source. For example a line array of powered speakers or amps, can be daisy chained with 10 to 20 amps and not be a problem. This can not be done with high impedance gear without severe loss of high frequencies.
Thanks. That’s really interesting. So if I have the option to use either balanced or unbalanced I should opt for balanced at the same price point, say 60 pound for 2x3m?
For cable runs beyond 15’, I would always recommend balanced connections. For anything under that, it depends on the noise environment, but it probably won’t make much of a difference.
Nice explanation. But one additional point (maybe someone pointed it out already, too many comments to read alsof them). I agree that you do want to get rid of noise, but in normal use, at line levels, with quality cables not too long (several meters is typically no problem), you don’t need the common mode rejection provided by balanced connections, you won’t hear hum, buzz or whatever anyway. And then, the complexity of the audio circuit comes into play. A balanced output and input stage typically introduce more components, and I know of equipment that sounds worse on balanced connections. I suggest that you should only look at balanced connections in harsh environments (long cable runs, strong electro magnetic sources). The remedy could be easily worse than the disease. Also, hum & buzz could result from non-matching gear, inverted mains plugs, a bad(ly designed) power supply, or bad cables.
You're missing one important point... shielding. Ingenious engineers thought that by shielding the signal wire (making the return wire the shield) they would be blocking noise. In fact, they were also blocking common mode noise rejection, leaving noise only on the return (shield) which can't be rejected. Unshielded twisted pair can run for miles in the phone system with negligible noise. Yes this is balanced. But balanced in the audio world also includes shielding around the balanced pair. This causes another level of grounding problems.
In a balanced audio connection, I don't believe the shield is the return. I'll admit - I'm getting a bit outside of my comfort zone here. However, if the shield (ground) were the return, using an XLR ground lift would not allow the signal to flow. Instead, I believe that the signals are referenced to the signal ground within each device. In an unbalanced connection, the shield is the return. Again, please correct me if I'm wrong here!
@@AudioUniversity Not shielding your balanced cables makes that your earth starts to flow, if you put +48v phantom power on these, the phantom power doesn't work, for condenser microphones for one. So always the shield on pin one.
@@AudioUniversity XLR is balanced + shield, hence three pins. It could be unbalanced if you use only one signal pin + ground, but that's not common. XLR transformers are more common to perform the unbal to bal properly. Also, ground lifts are intended to eliminate ground loops where the shield is grounded in two different locations in the house system.
@@AudioUniversity In the event of an earth loop, noise with a frequency of 50 or 60 Hz appears and then Di box devices are used, they have a Ground Lift switch. In fact, the ground of one device is disconnected from the connection to the ground of another device, but the signal continues to be transmitted. My active monitors made Hum noise when I connected them with a balanced cable to the output of the sound card in computer. Then I disconnected the shielding earth winding - 1 pin at the connector connected to the monitor and the noise disappeared. The signal is perfectly transmitted over two wires 2 and 3 pin.
That’s exactly what I was trying to say above, @Drums and Percussion - I don’t believe the shield is required for transmitting the signal across the cable because ground lifts (pin 1 lifts) are commonly used. Thanks for sharing this anecdote.
Working on a siren for a police vehicle that gives me a humming sound in tempo with the flashin lights of the vehicle. I managed to isolate the problem as most likely being the lightbar inducing some power on it's data line to the light and siren controller and then being output over the speaker. Your info here helps tremendously, as i believe i understand more about my problem. Thank you and keep up the good work!
There are TS speaker cables. Both conductors have equal impedance. However, it’s not the cable that is balanced. It’s a combination of one device’s output, the cable, and the other device’s input
Good explanation. Due to the non availability of XLR connection, we sometime use XLR to TS cables ( mainly to speaker), in such case do we treat them as balanced or unbalanced cable? And if it unbalanced then how to we change it to XLR TO XLR....
It is not so much dependent on the type of cable or connector that is used. It is more so dependent on the type of output and input on the interfacing devices. If you need to convert an unbalanced signal to balanced, you can use a DI box.
@@AudioUniversity Thanks Kyle. My interface device output is TS and speaker takes TS, so in this case if it was XLR output in interface device and speaker with XLR, will this improve the sound quality or will it reduce the noise appearing due to other electrical devices placed in the vicinity of cable route?
If the outputs of your interface are TS, there would be no advantage to using a TS to XLR adapter or a TS instrument cable. However, it’s likely that your interface has TRS outputs. In this case, you could make a balanced connection with a TRS to XLR adapter. You might find this video helpful: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-m4hy63fEgA0.html
A great explanation of balanced and unbalanced cables. Thanks! I do want to mention one thing I saw in the video. When you did the demonstration of the device picking up interference from other cables and devices, you had what looked like an AC power extension cord coiled on the floor. This is not a good way to store the excess cable length. When any energized cable is coiled up like that you are essentially creating a transformer. A transformer, especially with an AC power extension cable will drop the voltage depending on how many loops are in the coil and how much current the load is pulling through the cable. I learned this from my time as a lighting tech for stage and television production. This does make a difference with the high voltages and currents for lighting gear. It doesn't make too much of a difference with the amount of energy traveling in audio lines. However, a coiled with with pick up other electromagnetic signals better than a cord that is just run along the ground.
I’m not an audio technician, but I do have a logical brain and scientific background. I agree that balanced cables are capable of a cleaner, but, what you neglect to mention, is that if you compare a truly, fully balanced amplify with a ‘direct coupled’, single ended or unbalanced amplifier the balanced amp will have to have that extra amplification stage. Each and every additional stage to any circuit will inevitably cause a degradation of signal! So, a truly single ended amplifier, connected to single ended source components using short unbalanced interconnects in an environment kept clean of electrical noise, or electro magnetic induction can equal, or even out perform balanced circuits and inter connectivity. So, you can never assume that just because you are employing premium balanced cables in a truly balanced audio rig, that you are achieving the best sonic performance. Neither can you make the same assumptions of truly single ended components using short interconnects. I say short interconnects as these will inevitably attract less interference than longer cables!
Thanks for the info. I knew that just replacing unbalanced interconnects with balanced ones would not necessarily result in better sound, but I didn't know why. Most explanations of balanced vs unbalanced don't cover this side of things. They only cover the positive case for using a balanced connection, so I appreciate giving us the 411 on all sides of the issue. However, I still need a bit more explanation. Can you tell me the meaning of "direct coupled" as well as "single-ended"? Also what are the alternatives to these? "Indirect coupled" and "doubled ended:? And if so what are the definitions of these. I always would tell people that think just swapping in an XLR (or equivalent ) for an RCA cable won't necessarily improve the quality of sound coming out of their system, but I couldn't explain the reason why. So they would usually ignore me because I guess it made them feel better to buy a more expensive interconnect and possibly a more expensive amp and or a pre-amp. Thanks!
@@trippmoore let me start by reiterating that I am not an engineer. Even if I were, you could not take my response as gospel, because each so say ‘expert’ will inevitably have a personal opinion which has sone type of bias. In my experience, the leaning of that bias is to a greater or lesser extent influenced by age and social standing. You can ask the same question of 10 ‘experts’ and get 10 different opinions. No, I’m just a man who is enthusiastic about music. Who listens to music attentively and cares about the way it sounds. If that makes me an audiophile, then so be it. The best advice I can offer, is, forget about better or best, they don’t exist. Just think of components as being different, you may or may not prefer that difference. Just because one component is twice the price of another, doesn’t mean it will have a superior sonic performance. That extra money may well have gone into higher end aesthetics, better fit and finish, higher profile marketing or simply, higher profit margins. Listen to opinions, study technical specifications, watch RU-vid and other reviews, but only use these as very general guidelines. Ultimately the very best judge of the equipment you eventually purchase is, you! The equipment you should utilise to make that purchasing decision, is your ears and your wallet. If a friend or family member tells you that your hifi sounds terrible, well, so what? You didn’t buy it for their listening pleasure, you bought it for yours! If someone else also appreciates the sonic production you’ve created, then great, you can enjoy the music together. Once again, I am by no means an audio technician. I’m just a music lover who takes a keen interest in the technical side of things. So the following explanation may be ripped apart by people more knowledgable than me. They’re quite entitled and welcome to do that. I make no false pretences. I don’t know everything. I’m not an elitist. A single ended amplifier has one live connector and one ground. DC, or Direct Coupled simply means that there are no capacitors in the signal path. A capacitor is simply a device that stores an electrical charge, for use as and when required. Theoretically, the more minimalist the signal path, the purer the signal, so, truer to the original! On the other hand, a balanced or double ended amp h has as 2 live connections and 1 common ground. The hypothesis here is that both live comnextions will carry different s signals, so, any signal common to both cann be considered unwanted noise and rejected, giving a cleaner signal. As I mentioned in my original comment, it also incorporates an extra stage in the signal path, which, could/will degrade the purity of the signal. If your components have truly balanced circuitry, then you should employ balanced or XLR cables. If your equipment is single ended, or unbalanced, but has provisions for the use of XLR cables, they will be of no real benefit and you should utilise premium RCA cables. Please note, premium does not necessarily mean expensive! A good an allergy would be purchasing a new car. Do you choose petrol, desal, electric or hybrid? Do you go for front wheel drive, rear wheel drive or all wheel drive? There is no better or best, just different and ultimately you go for the combination that best suits your needs. Not the one your boss or your father recommended. You’re going to be driving that car, not them. At the end of the day it is down to personal preference and personal choice. I employ a pure class A, balanced preamp. Class AB unbalanced monoblocks. It works for me, and it suits me. You must do what works for you, or what suits you best and bugger anyone who looks down on your choices. Most of all, enjoy the music. Do you watch the PS Audio RU-vid channel? If not, I advise you take a look at it. The presenter, Paul, the CEO of PS Audio is a really knowledgeable and amiable chap. He is not elitist and offers good advice, doing his best to answer viewers questions. Yes, He expresses his personal opinion, but he is not patronising. He has also written a book called ‘the audiophiles guide’! It is very good and an entertaining and educational read. Yes, of course it is influenced by opinion, but gets my recommendation. Hope this helps?
Could using a balanced cable for a bass guitar (one 1/4” going from guitar to DI, one going from DI to amp, and one XLR from DI output to snake) to rid some unwanted buzz?
Bass (and guitar) amps don't have differential inputs, so they won't cancel the noise. Pickups on basses are wired so their coils and magnets are out of phase so it already cancels out the hum getting picked up (flipping the magnets is what puts the wanted signal back into phase so it isn't canceled out.) I think some boutique basses do come with balanced outputs, but it's very rare. Also, the jacks on basses use TRS jacks that so that they can disconnect the battery when you unplug them. If you were to add a balanced output, you'd need to have a separate on/off switch for the battery because the reversed phase would take the part of the jack used to turn on the battery.
