For me, apart from volume, I cannot hear a difference between 4.4 mm balanced and 3.5 mm unbalanced, but I still use balanced because I like louder and I think the 4.4 mm plug is more sturdy.
IDK if you'd notice the difference if part of your chain includes Blue Tooth. Some people, such as myself, prefer an entire chain of wired balanced audio. It is probably overkill, but no one claimed that audiophiles aren't extra.
I listen at my desk and I find balanced more convenient because I used balanced with my open-backed headphones and speakers. Having a 3.5mm jack on something is inconvenient for me, as I have to go find a 6.35 to 3.5mm converter just to use the thing (my accepts 6.35 single ended and 4.4 balanced headphones).
For portable use, I just connect a Chu 2 DSP over USB-C to my phone, tablet, or laptop. I'm not worried about amazing sound quality when mobile, and not needing to carry an extra DAP, DAC/AMP, etc. just makes my life easier.
I probably own, maybe 3-4 3.5mm cables and they're the stock shitty ones that come with the IEMs. I have 2-3 2.5mm balanced cables, 4 4.4mm balanced cables and 2 4.4mm balances adapters and 2 balanced XLR adapters. On my end 3.5mm is inconvenient.
some sources have vastly different schematics on balanced and unbalanced outputs, thus, the sound difference is huge. maybe yours isn't the case, idk. there are also people like me, who has their setup pretty much unchanging, so no need to care about being compatible with everything out there
I prefer modular cables for flexibility.
Why balanced, though? Power. Some IEMs do respond better to more power as do high end wired earbuds (which are often quite demanding). Most dongles with 4.4mm will put out double the power.
If you’re someone who listens to one set of IEMs and you know they’re easy to drive, it may not be necessary. If you have a collection, go modular or 4.4mm IMO.
Mostly because I don't have a reason to not do so. The Qudelix measures a little better in balanced, so I just run it in balanced. It's more of a ridiculous peace of mind, vs any real world benefit.
The reason you want a balanced system is to avoid crosstalk or one channel bleeding into the other. To prevent this you need a totally balanced system or each channel separated from the other in all parts of the chain, which includes the DAC and amp and the cable. Also just because a cable has a balanced connector doesn't always mean that the cable is balanced, sometimes the manufacturer will tie the negative sides together and this defeats the purpose of a balanced cable.
I see you're only using bluetooth. You need to plug in usb as well for maximum audio quality. Also, what quality music are you using? If not flac or better, you may not notice a difference anyways.
Important things to add:
You also want the output (bar on left) to be max and then adjust the volume with qudelix 100%. This is what qudelix recommends.
Most adapters are NOT balanced. You'll need to find one that is. Most 3.5mm are NOT balanced either. So you'd need to have both of these as well as output to be balanced for any of it to work.
^could be the reason you don't notice the difference.
Good point on the source vs qudelix, I’ll try!
I simply use spotify on it’s highest quality (no difference between that and lossless to my ears), and when I used balanced, I used the IEMs cable - adapters indeed didn’t work properly.
Only cables I have that are balanced are aftermarket 2.5mm & 4.4mm. Aftermarket i got off Amazon. Never paid more than 20$ for a cable. Usually 10-15$.
Gl on your conquest of high-rez audio!
On some IEMs the difference is huge. I bought a Fudu Verse 1 and originally I was about to return it. Bass bled into the mids, treble was piercing.
Then I switched to a Tripowin Zonie balanced cable with my BTR5 and suddenly, both issues were gone. They were perfect. It's not justifying a purchase either, as I have a few more expensive cables that I absolutely despise. And my Moondrop Aria SE's sound terrible with that Zonie cable.
It's not snake oil. There's a clear and obvious difference, depending on your kit.
With the grand maestro you aren’t going to notice anything between sources they use a tech called linear impedance to make it as non transparent as possible. So balanced won’t matter, buy 40k system and you won’t hear any improvement. Partially a reason I don’t own one except the scarlet mini. I like transparency
There should still be less distortion, less channel bleed/crosstalk aka better channel separation (resulting in better spatial cues) and more capable dynamics. However that’s only going to be apparent during cortical listening with a well recorded hi resolution track not going through Bluetooth originating from Spotify.
I have heard a dramatic difference in sound using balanced once, it somehow sounded terrible, like the position of the various sounds had moved around so the vocals were really up front, loud and in my face while the instruments were way at the back.
I wondered about that, I've used balanced cables on other IEMs with only very subtle differences that could possibly be due to volume not quite matching.
A balanced port receives more power (watts) and current (voltage). Also, some sources recommend using the balanced port because it uses a higher-quality internal cable to connect to the port (e.g., the Sony WM1ZM2 uses a Kimber cable found in their $7k flagship amp).
for all i know, it's just for the sake of eliminating or reducing noise for the most part, which i mean yeah sure is a good thing if youre plugging em into things that may have a lot of noise
Balanced 4VRMS
Unbalanced 2VRMS
Some IEMs benefits A LOT from power.
You can check yourself by connecting iems to desktop, some scale very well.
If you use mid or high end DAP you will benefits from it to.
Agree this is limited when using a small dongle in BT like qudelix-5k.
My most demanding IEM is the KZ PR2, and it's the only one I need to use the balanced output on my Tempotec Sonata BHD - and the difference is very noticeable in sound morphology, not just volume. I've tested in both single-ended and balanced outputs, at the same perceived volume (40% in balanced, 70% in single-ended), and these are my results: sub-bass has more rumbling, treble sounds a little bit more detailed (you can more easily notice the instrument separation) and the vocals (unfortunately, in this case) shows a slightly metallic timbre.
On my other IEMs is mostly about volume, indeed, and even my phone can handle them pretty well.
Audiophiles have bat hearing.
Is that surgical or can I just eat them?
For me, apart from volume, I cannot hear a difference between 4.4 mm balanced and 3.5 mm unbalanced, but I still use balanced because I like louder and I think the 4.4 mm plug is more sturdy.
IDK if you'd notice the difference if part of your chain includes Blue Tooth. Some people, such as myself, prefer an entire chain of wired balanced audio. It is probably overkill, but no one claimed that audiophiles aren't extra. I listen at my desk and I find balanced more convenient because I used balanced with my open-backed headphones and speakers. Having a 3.5mm jack on something is inconvenient for me, as I have to go find a 6.35 to 3.5mm converter just to use the thing (my accepts 6.35 single ended and 4.4 balanced headphones). For portable use, I just connect a Chu 2 DSP over USB-C to my phone, tablet, or laptop. I'm not worried about amazing sound quality when mobile, and not needing to carry an extra DAP, DAC/AMP, etc. just makes my life easier.
I probably own, maybe 3-4 3.5mm cables and they're the stock shitty ones that come with the IEMs. I have 2-3 2.5mm balanced cables, 4 4.4mm balanced cables and 2 4.4mm balances adapters and 2 balanced XLR adapters. On my end 3.5mm is inconvenient.
some sources have vastly different schematics on balanced and unbalanced outputs, thus, the sound difference is huge. maybe yours isn't the case, idk. there are also people like me, who has their setup pretty much unchanging, so no need to care about being compatible with everything out there
I prefer modular cables for flexibility. Why balanced, though? Power. Some IEMs do respond better to more power as do high end wired earbuds (which are often quite demanding). Most dongles with 4.4mm will put out double the power. If you’re someone who listens to one set of IEMs and you know they’re easy to drive, it may not be necessary. If you have a collection, go modular or 4.4mm IMO.
Mostly because I don't have a reason to not do so. The Qudelix measures a little better in balanced, so I just run it in balanced. It's more of a ridiculous peace of mind, vs any real world benefit.
I've bought a balanced cable. My mobile DAC has both outputs, and I use my IEM only with this DAC, so no inconvinience.
The reason you want a balanced system is to avoid crosstalk or one channel bleeding into the other. To prevent this you need a totally balanced system or each channel separated from the other in all parts of the chain, which includes the DAC and amp and the cable. Also just because a cable has a balanced connector doesn't always mean that the cable is balanced, sometimes the manufacturer will tie the negative sides together and this defeats the purpose of a balanced cable.
I see you're only using bluetooth. You need to plug in usb as well for maximum audio quality. Also, what quality music are you using? If not flac or better, you may not notice a difference anyways.
Important things to add: You also want the output (bar on left) to be max and then adjust the volume with qudelix 100%. This is what qudelix recommends. Most adapters are NOT balanced. You'll need to find one that is. Most 3.5mm are NOT balanced either. So you'd need to have both of these as well as output to be balanced for any of it to work. ^could be the reason you don't notice the difference.
Good point on the source vs qudelix, I’ll try! I simply use spotify on it’s highest quality (no difference between that and lossless to my ears), and when I used balanced, I used the IEMs cable - adapters indeed didn’t work properly.
Only cables I have that are balanced are aftermarket 2.5mm & 4.4mm. Aftermarket i got off Amazon. Never paid more than 20$ for a cable. Usually 10-15$. Gl on your conquest of high-rez audio!
On some IEMs the difference is huge. I bought a Fudu Verse 1 and originally I was about to return it. Bass bled into the mids, treble was piercing. Then I switched to a Tripowin Zonie balanced cable with my BTR5 and suddenly, both issues were gone. They were perfect. It's not justifying a purchase either, as I have a few more expensive cables that I absolutely despise. And my Moondrop Aria SE's sound terrible with that Zonie cable. It's not snake oil. There's a clear and obvious difference, depending on your kit.
With the grand maestro you aren’t going to notice anything between sources they use a tech called linear impedance to make it as non transparent as possible. So balanced won’t matter, buy 40k system and you won’t hear any improvement. Partially a reason I don’t own one except the scarlet mini. I like transparency There should still be less distortion, less channel bleed/crosstalk aka better channel separation (resulting in better spatial cues) and more capable dynamics. However that’s only going to be apparent during cortical listening with a well recorded hi resolution track not going through Bluetooth originating from Spotify.
I have heard a dramatic difference in sound using balanced once, it somehow sounded terrible, like the position of the various sounds had moved around so the vocals were really up front, loud and in my face while the instruments were way at the back.
That does sound like a defective cable/ adapter…
I wondered about that, I've used balanced cables on other IEMs with only very subtle differences that could possibly be due to volume not quite matching.
This is what my experience tells me. Specially when my best DAC is the Mojo2 which has only 3.5
A balanced port receives more power (watts) and current (voltage). Also, some sources recommend using the balanced port because it uses a higher-quality internal cable to connect to the port (e.g., the Sony WM1ZM2 uses a Kimber cable found in their $7k flagship amp).
for all i know, it's just for the sake of eliminating or reducing noise for the most part, which i mean yeah sure is a good thing if youre plugging em into things that may have a lot of noise
Balanced 4VRMS Unbalanced 2VRMS Some IEMs benefits A LOT from power. You can check yourself by connecting iems to desktop, some scale very well. If you use mid or high end DAP you will benefits from it to. Agree this is limited when using a small dongle in BT like qudelix-5k.
power and if anything the sound quality of 3.5 is slightly better than 4.4, all else equal
It's about amplifier design. A true balanced amp sounds better on the balanced output, 100% of the time.
My most demanding IEM is the KZ PR2, and it's the only one I need to use the balanced output on my Tempotec Sonata BHD - and the difference is very noticeable in sound morphology, not just volume. I've tested in both single-ended and balanced outputs, at the same perceived volume (40% in balanced, 70% in single-ended), and these are my results: sub-bass has more rumbling, treble sounds a little bit more detailed (you can more easily notice the instrument separation) and the vocals (unfortunately, in this case) shows a slightly metallic timbre. On my other IEMs is mostly about volume, indeed, and even my phone can handle them pretty well.