Unbalanced signals are cheap.
Balanced signals used to require transformers (i.e. veeeeeery expensive). These days crappy chip op amps are used to "balance" signals. But they are still way more expensive than unbalanced signals, and especially so if you don't want the signals to sound crappy.
Although I can't tell whether or not I detect it hearing-wise, the one big advantage of using chips for balancing over transformers
that I've read about (i.e. hearsay) is that transients are passed through a chip with less distortion, less loss of fidelity, than through a transformer. Depending on the slew rate and all that jazz of the chip, of course. (Please someone who actually knows this stuff -- Tom? Gary? Et al -- chime in and correct me!
)
However apart from the somewhat esoteric aspect of transients, the *general* difference between transformers and chips is most certainly audible. Especially for older and cheaper transformers. Transformers just sound better 7 times out of 10. They shape your audio in a way that's not dissimilar to subtle EQ, or even tape or tubes. ICs almost always give your signal a sort of grittiness that is harsh and unnatural. As opposed to the transformer sound, which is creamy and unnatural. Funny how nothing reproduces sound very well.
But man the right chips or the right transformers make
cool sounds all right!
The ideal audio setup, fidelity-wise, would be all unbalanced connections with proper grounding and no radio wave or other interference. Internally, of course, all devices use unbalanced signals, because the only time you need balanced cables is when you have long antenna-like runs.
But unfortunately the "ideal" unbalanced audio setup is almost impossible to actually achieve in a complex studio environment, without noise and RFI.
(Nevertheless I would like to hear it some day -- hear whether it really does sound closer to the original than IC- and transformer-balanced signals!
)
EDIT: whoops, mis-read your post Shroomz. The reasons for RCA are simple: 1) to save real estate; 2) to save money. RCA jacks are small and cheap. XLR jacks are big and expensive. TRS and TS jacks are big and expensive.
<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: blazesboylan on 2005-10-24 23:04 ]</font>
