There are lots of audio cables, and all with their unique features and characteristics. One of the factors that make one cable different from another is the concept of whether an audio cable is balanced or unbalanced.
If you are an ardent follower of audio cable manufacture and characteristics, you might have little knowledge about whether RCA cables are balanced or not and what exactly this means. However, if you are unsure whether RCA cables may be balanced or unbalanced, here’s what you need to know.
In short, no, RCA cables are not balanced. RCA cables are typically unbalanced audio cables that transmit stereo audio signals across a left and a right channel. And because RCA cables are unbalanced, they are prone to noise interference and signal loss.
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Brief Information about RCA Cables
RCA cables are audio cables that come with RCA connectors. These RCA connectors are also known as phono connectors. This is because they were originally used with phono players.
An RCA connector is designed to have a center pin contact that is surrounded by a circular surface.
Generally, an RCA cable can come as a triple, double or single RCA cable. However, single RCA cables are quite rare. Double RCA cables are typically used to carry audio signals, while triple RCA cables carry both audio and video signals.
It is worth noting that, more often than not, whenever the term RCA audio cable is mentioned, it is the double RCA cables that are being talked about. This cable is the standard connector for connecting stereo consumer equipment like CD players, turntables, and tape decks.
Thus, RCA audio cables can be referred to as unbalanced audio connection cables that transmit stereo audio through a left and a right channel. The left channel usually has a white or black colored tip, while the red channel has a red-colored tip.
I have an article that talks extensively about RCA cables. If you’re interested in learning more about it, feel free to check it out here.
Why RCA Cables are not Balanced
RCA cables are not balanced, hence are referred to as unbalanced cables. These RCA cables are known as unbalanced cables because they are designed to have only two wires or conductors in them.
One of these conductors or wires is the signal wire, which carries the audio signal from the input to the output. The second wire, known as the ground, acts as the signal’s reference point.
However, RCA cables are unbalanced because they have no shielding against noise and interference. For this reason, they are susceptible to picking up noise interference, potentially making your signal less quality.
Also, the quality of the audio they transfer is lower than that of balanced audio cables.
On the other hand, balanced cables come with three conductors and wires. Two of these wires carry the audio signal. However, one of these two signal wires carries the regular audio signal while the other carries an inverted version of the audio signal.
When these two signals are recombined at the end, they cancel out any noise that might have been picked up. The last wire acts as a shield or ground for the audio signal.
This shield also removes hum and other noise that enters through the receiving end. This ultimately ensures that you get sound of better quality from balanced cables.
Are Balanced Cables Better than RCA?
Balanced cables are better than RCA cables. This is because balanced audio cables will give you a much better and cleaner audio signal than unbalanced audio cables. In addition, balanced cables have less risk of picking up unwanted noise.
Unfortunately, RCA cables are unbalanced cables. Thus, since all balanced cables are generally better than unbalanced cables, it simply means balanced cables are better than RCA cables.
This can be attributed to the fact that, since RCA cables are unbalanced, they have the potential to add feedback, interference, and unwanted noise to your audio.
In certain environments, RCA cables can pick up humming or buzzing sounds. When they pick up these noises, they are passed on from one end of the cable to the other. Thus, any interference and noise picked up by an RCA cable is added to the audio signal when it gets to its destination.
On the other hand, audio signals carried by balanced cables have less risk of picking up such unwanted noise. This is because audio signals that are carried by balanced cables are duplicated, inverted, and transmitted on two separate pathways.
If you’re interested in learning, in great detail, how balanced cables work, I highly recommend you check out this article I wrote on XLR cables.
In addition to this, balanced audio cables are well-grounded and cleaner. This makes them better protected against signal noise and cable interference. Thus they are a much better option for audio applications than RCA and can be used for long-distance applications without picking up any interference.
It is also worth noting that unbalanced cables come with only two conductors, so they are relatively cheaper to make than balanced cables.
To end it all, even though the concept of whether a cable is balanced or not may seem to have very little significance, it has a huge effect on the final quality of sound produced.
Thus, balanced audio cables produce relatively better sound than unbalanced cables.
Since RCA cables are unbalanced cables, you should not run them over 25 feet if you have to use them. The balanced audio cable can be used for long-distance audio applications, high outputs, and noisy environments.
Is XLR to RCA Balanced?
No, an XLR to RCA cable is not balanced. This is because an XLR to RCA cable converts a balanced audio signal into an unbalanced signal. This cable sends audio signals from an XLR source to an RCA input and vice versa. However, no matter the direction of the signal flow, the resultant signal output will be an unbalanced audio signal.
What you should note is some audio connector types are naturally unbalanced. A typical example of such audio connectors is RCA. This means that when you see an RCA connector at one end of an audio cable, that portion represents a single unbalanced port.
On the other hand, an XLR connector is a balanced audio connector. However, this does not have a significant influence on the audio cable.
An XLR to RCA cable is called a “pseudo-balanced” cable. This is because it has a balanced connector (XLR) on one of its ends and an unbalanced connector (RCA) on the other end.
Pseudo-balanced cables are used to connect unbalanced sources to balanced destinations through carefully engineered wiring and configuration that eliminates the risk of ground loop issues.
This type of cable connection is done to improve the compatibility of cables with RCA connectors with other audio equipment. With this cable, you can connect a CD player with an XLR connector to an amplifier with an RCA connection.
Conclusion
RCA cables are unbalanced audio cables that transmit stereo audio signals. They have only two wires that serve as the signal wire and ground, respectively.
However, they have no shielding against noise and interference. Thus, when an audio signal is going down an RCA cable, it is subject to picking up interference and noise.
Hello, I’m Elijah. A writer on Geek Musician, based in Ghana-West Africa. I am a writer with a passion for research and reading. I usually spend my free time playing chess or watching movies. For more info, check out my about me page. Or read more of my articles here.