XLR vs RCA & DIN

Posted by: Naheed on 29 October 2000

I had a spare Chord Solid II (RCA to DIN) lying around so i sent it back to Chord to get reconfigured to XLR - DIN, (at the moment I am using a Micromega DAC with balanced outputs).

Got it back friday: WOW - the difference is amazing !!!, bass is so DEEP now and everything has that solid 'reach out @ you' feeling...

I was told that RCA was a bad idea made to work, i think i agree.

Also i now find a qtr turn on the volume knob gets very loud - is this due to a lower impedance of the XLR vs RCA ???

naheed...

Posted on: 29 October 2000 by Mike Hanson
I've got a Cambridge CD6 and Naim 32.5 pre-amp at work, connected via a Chord Cobra 2 (RCA-to-DIN). Although the level of detail and finesse was very good, there was a bit of boogie and slam that was missing (mostly lack of bass, but some stuff from the highs needed improving too).

The CD6 has balanced XLR outputs for right and left channels. I rewired one XLR socket to follow the Naim standard, then changed the DIN on an old Naim interconnect to an XLR plug. I'm not sure whether it was the change to star earthing or the Naim cable itself, but the player improved in all the ways it was lacking!

In my case the XLR output was now wired to be in parallel to the old RCA outputs, so the levels were the same (made it great for A/B testing, since I could have both the XLR and RCA outputs connected to separate inputs on the 32.5). I don't really understand what you've done in your case, so I can't comment on your volume issues. Catch you later!

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Smilies do not a forum make.

Posted on: 29 October 2000 by Naheed
Mike i used to connect my DAC to 102 via 2 RCA to 5 pin DIN, but the reconfigured cable makes use of the DACs 'balanced' XLR outputs rather than RCA...

naheed...

Posted on: 29 October 2000 by Mike Hanson
Do you have two XLRs on one end, and the single DIN on the other? I assume that your cable is connected only to the positive signal and ground on each side, which means you won't be getting star earthing or balanced outputs (since balanced outputs require both the positive and negative signals, along with the ground).

If that's the case, then I'm not sure why your system sounds any different. Please explain further. Catch you later!

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Smilies do not a forum make.