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Sleepless_in_Bristol OP t1_j1xq1lh wrote

Reply to comment by blorg in Hifiman Edition XS Headphones (Upgrade from Moondrop Blessing:2 Dusk IEMs?) by Sleepless_in_Bristol

Thanks. With the Quedelix and BTR5 being roughly equivalent I keep thinking that if I'm going to spend money it should be on an actual upgrade such as the Topping DX5, which I like the look of but oddly it doesn't have balanced output!

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blorg t1_j1xw2x3 wrote

Balanced or not balanced doesn't inherently matter, balanced is just often an easy way to give much higher power, particularly in small battery powered devices. If a particular device has both, the balanced is often better and usually significantly more powerful. But it's entirely possible to produce a single ended device that outperforms a balanced one. The DX5 would have plenty of power for the Edition XS single ended, it's really in the small portable stuff you benefit more from using the balanced out. Or some desktop amps where the balanced is more powerful, and you have a really hard to drive headphone like the HE6SE.

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Sleepless_in_Bristol OP t1_j1y3m1e wrote

Yeah, I'm hoping to be able to stick with my BTR5 using its balanced output for the extra power and with that in mind and not wanting to have to swap cables too often, it seemed notable that the DX5 doesn't have it.

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blorg t1_j1y55de wrote

DX5 has an XLR out, it's just not balanced.

If you have stuff wired for 2.5, you can use a XLR-2.5 adapter, this what I use on my main amp for stuff I have wired for 2.5, it has XLR, 4.4 and 6.35. I leave that plugged in as I have stuff wired for 2.5, 4.4 and 6.35 but not XLR.

I also have 6.35->2.5 and 6.35->4.4 adapters, so I can use the balanced stuff on my single ended amps as well. This works in that direction, it's the other direction you can't go (balanced output to single ended).

You need 2.5 for the BTR5 and no desktop amp is going to have a 2.5 output so you need an adapter anyway. Like you usually need a 6.35->3.5 adapter for single ended, they are a bit bigger than those but same idea.

You can also get 3.5->2.5, if you got something like a Topping DX3 Pro+ that only has 3.5.

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