IIRC Paul has said that he finds the XLR output from the DS the best-sounding one. Since I purchased a PHK preamp last summer, I now have the option of using the XLR outputs (my previous preamp was single-ended only).
Has anyone else compared the RCA vs XLR outputs? What did you find? I would need to get a set of XLR interconnects, so please let me know what has worked well. Thanks!
I switched to balanced on my BHK pre mainly because I had a ground loop, which thankfully corrected it, but also changed brands from Transparent Ultras to the Iconocasts so can’t say what part the balanced played in the sq improvement.
I think it is very system dependent. I’ve used both. I went with balanced (using a Decware ZBIT to use the balanced output into my single-ended amp input) because one of the sources I use with the DS was just a bit too low in output. That has been corrected with the balanced output. I am not using the exact same cable brand and model before and after the ZBIT so there is some change because of cabling as well. I love the sound either single-ended or balanced, there’s just a bit more “heft” to the sound with balanced and that one source sounds meatier.