XLR Ins vs RCA ins

[SteveMac]

Pardon my ignorance on this but how much better are balanced line ins as opposed to rca ins? I know some regard the 80 8 as superior to the 38 or tsr 8. Do the balanced inputs make a huge difference in that or are there too many variables to name? Anything anyone can tell is much appreciated or any tips on how to maximize your signal path to the deck. Thanks


A Bit Of Nostalgia For Ya

 

[Herm]

Steve
The only benefit to balanced is if you need to run lines a long distance.
like over 10 feet. If you call that long. Even tascam says in some of their manuals that unbalanced is better sonicly than balanced. Plus if you can keep your leads short you will save alot of money by not buying all of those balanced cords.

 

[Dr ZEE]

Steve, from practical point for a home-based studio recording, just what Herm had to say... In general keep it short, and forget about it.
However, to ideally optimize your setup it sure would be great to have everything balanced and actually true-balanced (which practically will never be the case anyway ).... so?
I've found a good read at RANE site: check it out HERE ...

/respects

 

[SteveMac]

Hey Herm, thanks for that tidbit. That's good to know.

Mike, is that Steve Macatee a real person? I'm am really gonna try and look that over. I get a bit of the "wandering mind syndrome" when it comes to technical manuals but I'll give a shot. Thanks.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Hey Herm, thanks for that tidbit. That's good to know.

It's all you need to know, in fact so don't sweat reading a ton of technical papers on the subject.

Balanced lines were designed out of necessity by the telephone company many, many moons ago to get their signals from point A to B over very long distances.

Home studio set ups rarely qualify for a true NEED for them.

Cheers!

 

[Dr ZEE]

...is that Steve Macatee a real person? .

HAH! funny... I had the same question/thought 'bout it when was reading the 'essay'...

...I get a bit of the "wandering mind syndrome" when it comes to technical manuals but I'll give a shot. Thanks.

...and essay that is... not a 'manual' I thought it would be a good read 'cos it covers many aspects of the 'issue' on one page. There were tons and tons of paper, gallons of ink and kilos and kilos-watts of electricity powering word-processors wasted over time by people writing on that subject... heh heh

I personally simply follow keep it short and forget about it rule. If I ever get some noise in my monitors, then I normally after test-make-sure that it's not in my head simply 'unplug' something... heh heh .... and solve the problem (in my case it also would have nothing to do with balanced/unbalanced issue, but rather would relate to a bunch of badly f*cked up gear, jacks, plugs and cords )

/respects