TyTB
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 17, 2012
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I'm sorry, I appreciate the attempt at thorough explanation, but this discussion of technical details is starting to go way over my head.Since folks are talking about differential audio, common mode rejection, balanced and single ended it seems pertinent to correct this point.
With the 4.4mm Pentaconn you very definitely can run a single ended cable to a 4.4mm balanced amplifier via an adapter.
In fact, not that there is much point but for the technical discussion, you can wire a cable with a 4.4mm Pentaconn termination to plug into a balanced amplifier but to operate single ended.
An adapter to go from a 3.5mm to 4.4mm so you can use a 3.5mm cable with a balanced 4.4mm amplifier will use the positive signal from the left and right channels and will run the two ground wires from the single ended 3.5mm to the grounding sleeve of the 4.4mm creating a single ended circuit. The negative signal of each channel are left unconnected, there is nothing shorting as is often stated.
That is also in effect generally how a portable amplifier that has balanced architecture and four amplifiers (L and R + and -) but also has a single ended 3.5mm jack works. There isn’t normally a completely separate single ended set up with two specific amplifiers for the single ended output, it is fed from the + amplifiers of the L and R channels.
ddhifi and ifi audio make 3.5mm to 4.4mm adapters that do exactly the above. I have both, checked both with a continuity tester and used both perfectly safely and effectively in a couple of different applications.
https://ifi-audio.com/products/headphone-adapter-3-5mm-to-4-4mm/
Not to sound reductionist or... well, dumb, but to ask you plainly: So, would the 4.4mm Pentaconn on the Sennheiser HD800s, be a fully balanced system, assuming it's plugged into a Balanced Amp, running off a Balanced DAC? Based on your comment, I THINK the answer is no, but I just want to be sure. You mention that using an adapter to go from 3.5mm to 4.4 would also be single-ended.
So, if I want FULLY BALANCED performance out of my Sennheiser HD800s, I would NEED to mod the cables over to XLR, or just buy some XLR cables, right? Then, and ONLY THEN, would I actually have a balanced system, assuming the DAC and Amp are fully balanced, ya?