[Condocondor]

Bought an xDuoo MT-604 balanced amp. It only has balanced XLR inputs and headphone outputs. Am I mistaken thinking I could use an adapter to run single-ended headphones out of the XLR jack on the front of the unit? In other words:

4-pin XLR headphone out -----> Adapter ----> Single Ended 1/4" Headphones ?????

 

[FlowLikeWater]

Bought an xDuoo MT-604 balanced amp. It only has balanced XLR inputs and headphone outputs. Am I mistaken thinking I could use an adapter to run single-ended headphones out of the XLR jack on the front of the unit? In other words:

4-pin XLR headphone out -----> Adapter ----> Single Ended 1/4" Headphones ?????

This will not work - you'll most likely destroy your amp

You can only connect balanced headphones to a single ended source with an adapter, not the other way around

 

[pbui44]

Bought an xDuoo MT-604 balanced amp. It only has balanced XLR inputs and headphone outputs. Am I mistaken thinking I could use an adapter to run single-ended headphones out of the XLR jack on the front of the unit? In other words:

4-pin XLR headphone out -----> Adapter ----> Single Ended 1/4" Headphones ?????

No sir! You cannot do this without potentially damaging the headphone drivers or your headphone amp.

 

[Condocondor]

Whoops. Well I made an ordering mistake then. Bought an MT-604 balanced amp....and an upgraded iFi Audio Power-X power supply.....and some upgraded 7-pin Jan GE 5654W tubes. I do have one balanced set of cans: Edition XX. Might be selling the whole damn thing....

 

[pbui44]

You don’t have to sell anything and sent you a PM of the items that you need.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Whoops. Well I made an ordering mistake then. Bought an MT-604 balanced amp....and an upgraded iFi Audio Power-X power supply.....and some upgraded 7-pin Jan GE 5654W tubes. I do have one balanced set of cans: Edition XX. Might be selling the whole damn thing....

You can just get balanced cables for the Edition XX since they're dual entry cables. No need for modifications like on the K7xx series (which have the cable going into one ear then the GND conductor splits between the two drivers).

 

[tesarpa]

I do have one balanced set of cans: Edition XX.

Maybe I'm stupid or non-educated, but how can headphones be balanced? Cable yes, I know. But each driver (headphone or speaker) can be wired only by two wires, not more. So I believe the whole problem is only in cabling.

 

[silent-circuit]

Maybe I'm stupid or non-educated, but how can headphones be balanced? Cable yes, I know. But each driver (headphone or speaker) can be wired only by two wires, not more. So I believe the whole problem is only in cabling.

They're probably just referring to what cables they have available. Some headphones however (like my Q701s - thanks idiots at AKG) are internally wired with a common ground and have to be modded to run balanced, not just have a cable swapped.

 

[Roseval]

how can headphones be balanced?

What we know as a balanced connection, is a 3 wire (hot, cold, ground) to connect components like DAC to pre-amp, pre-amp to poweramp, etc.
This allows for common noise rejection.

In the headphone world "balanced" means something completely different. It refers to the amp. Instead of 1 amp per channel, they uses 2 amps per channel. One pulling, one pushing.
As now the "ground" is active too, you need a 4 wire connection so 2x single ended. "Symmetrical" would be far more apt than "balanced" to describe this type of connection but that is a uphill battle.

You will also find voices on the internet saying as there is no earth or any other way current could leak, what goes in a driver, will go out so it is perfectly balanced!

 

[tesarpa]

Ok, but you still have only two wires to one driver (channel), right? Regardless how you call them, plus/minus or red/black...

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Ok, but you still have only two wires to one driver (channel), right? Regardless how you call them, plus/minus or red/black...

Single ended = L+, shared GND/-, R+

This is why some headphones don't have "two wires to one driver" on the entire length of the cable. Some have only three going into the left earcup, with one split for the - on each side, and the headband is where the R+ and R- run from the left earcup. On a dual entry design you'd have four conductors all the way through on most cables.

Alternately you can just use only three up to the Y-junction and then split it from there. The reason why this isn't normally used is durability as the soldering at the Y-junction is more susceptible to damage than just having the solders in one earcup where it isn't carrying the weight of a portion of the cable below it as long as it's properly designed as it goes on the earcup.

If you have four conductors all the way through you can also just snip off the TRS plug and solder the correct conductors onto an XLR or TRRS plug.


"Balanced" Drive = L+, L-/GND, R-/GND, R+, all separate all through to the amp circuit

Regardless of whether differential drive is true balanced signal or not or whether this helps the sound, bottom line is if the amp has independent -/GND for left and right, joining them at the output can damage the amp.

 

[Roseval]

but you still have only two wires to one driver (channel), right?

Yes.