The quality of the headphones nowadays isn’t the same as they were even a few years ago. Technology is constantly developing and simultaneously improving the overall experience of using headphones.
In light of that, this article provides a complete guide on balanced vs unbalanced headphones.
Balanced and unbalanced headphones are comparatively a new addition to headphone technology. They basically refer to the slight changes in their cable system that tweak the overall performance. For instance – balanced headphones are significantly resistant to interferences, while unbalanced ones are much less complicated and affordable.
However, that’s not all that goes into their constituents and performance level. Let’s have a detailed look into the related concepts to develop a better idea about such headphones.
Unbalanced Headphones & Connections
Before finding out about unbalanced connections, you need to know a little about line-level connections first. Line-level connections are practically established connections between compatible devices.
You will usually find both input and output in a mutual connection between a source and a receiver. But sometimes, you’ll find that it’s output only. Line-level connections, on the other hand, work both ways.
The difference lies only in the fact that different plug setups are required to set them apart. And that’s one of the reasons why their concept is also applied to balanced and unbalanced connectivity.
Depending on the usage of a certain plug or connector, your connectivity can be balanced or unbalanced. For instance – an unbalanced connection only works with plugs like the ⅛” and RCA set-ups.
Let’s approach this from a much simpler point of view. So, every headphone or audio cable comes with certain audio signals, right? Well, with unbalanced cables, only two wires are needed to establish the connection.
They are systematically identified by ground wire and signal wire, respectively. The signal wire here’s the main deal since it directly transmits the audio output to both your ears.
The ground wire, on the other hand, is there for damage control. As in, it’s the protective wire that guards the signal wire against any external damage. It also resists electric overload to a certain limit and, thus, prevents the wire from catching in a fire.
Now the ‘unbalanced’ term comes from only one signal wire. In case you didn’t notice, this one signal wire is responsible for transmitting the sound to both cables. So, during the separation, the sound faces many more hurdles and interferences.
And due to that, it’s pretty hard to distribute the signal evenly. That’s why, while you have such headphones on, you sometimes hear more in one ear than the other. And as the interferences exceed the limit, the overall sound quality goes even further down.
Shortcomings Of Unbalanced Headphones
Here is a brief overview of the specific shortcomings of unbalanced headphones:
Audio Degradation
When we used to listen to radios, do you remember the sudden static sound while changing channels? That’s a prime example of what unwanted interference sounds like. Whenever there’s a bad network, it’s really hard to get the appropriate signals in time.
And when there’s a clear interruption in the passageway of such signals, you hear those static sounds. The same applies to headphones as well. It happens to all types of headphones. However, it’s a constant occurrence with unbalanced headphones, to say the least.
The reason has already been explained above. Since a signal wire has to do all the work, blocking incoming interferences isn’t much effective. So, that ends up leading to the annoying hums in your ears.
And let’s face it. It gets really annoying when you hear such static noise while listening to your favorite songs. Sometimes stray capacitance from the leaking setup can increase the interferences ten-fold. Needless to say, that’s even more infuriating.
CrossTalk
In simple terms, crosstalk happens when several (at least two) audio channels or signals overlap each other. It’s like those teenage detective movies where someone ‘accidentally’ hears the evil plans of the villain on the radio. Just because the signals got overlapped.
In technical terms, this is known as coupling. Coupling occurs due to unwanted signal leakage between different audio channels. It’s actually quite common in modern headsets.
But since the interferences aren’t often clear enough, your ears don’t pick it up easily. However, when the leakage is just too high, you’ll start to experience significant audible issues. There are ways to diminish the effects but it’s still pretty annoying when it happens.
Balanced Headphones & Connections
Needless to say, the very existence of ‘unbalanced’ connectivity directly implies the existence of ‘balanced’ connectivity. Well, at least most people subconsciously interpret the concept like that.
Whereas balanced connectivity actually became a reality to overcome the definite shortcomings of unbalanced headphones. That’s right. Proper research on the true balanced headsets was carried on much later. In fact, the technology is still developing as of now.
While researching, the main goal was to remove or reduce the limitations caused by the excessive interferences in unbalanced headphones. It all came down to the fact that unbalanced connections featured only one signal wire.
And that single signal wire isn’t enough to tackle all the interferences. So, to counteract that problem, balanced connections feature two signal phases instead of one. Per-channel that is.
These phases directly relate to the ground phase and transmit the signals accordingly. As a result, there’s rarely any overlap, and it’s transmitted efficiently and effortlessly.
Basically, the signal from the source is equally divided into two separate signals. As in these signals are identical in both magnitude and direction. And that’s why there are no differences in their noise voltages either.
In technical terms, this equality is roughly indicated as impedance.
Such a state creates an internal interference termed RFI or, Radio Frequency Interference. So, whenever any external interference tries to disturb this equilibrium, the internal RFI tends just to cancel it out.
Fascinating, right? And what’s even more impressive is that balanced connections don’t require more wires than unbalanced ones. Instead of a ground wire, balanced connections come with two signal wires where one of them is the mirror signal of the other.
Getting too complicated at this point? Well, let’s not go into all the complex mathematical stuff immediately. All you need to know is that there are two equal signals. And one’s a mirror phase of the other, i.e. inverted.
This inverted signal gives rise to the common-mode noise effect. An effect that can actively generate Radio Frequency Interference in between cables. And this RFI cancels out incoming interferences, thus producing much clearer and uninterrupted sound signals.
Shortcomings Of Balanced Headphones
Even though balanced connections seem great after that little explanation, they also have flaws. Here’s a brief overview of some of the impending shortcomings of true balanced headphones:
Audio Quality Fluctuations
At first glance, it may seem like balanced headphones probably give off the best audio quality out there. And while that’s not entirely false, there are some exceptions.
For instance – they are indeed great for driving out external interferences. But since the source signal directly splits down into two equal phases, the impedance also doubles. And that can sometimes amplify the sound way too much and cause fluctuations in the audio quality.
Affordability Issues
Since balanced headphones have a lot more complex set-up procedures. They definitely do not come cheap. They may not cost an arm and a leg yet, but the price can still seem quite high. Especially for something as simple as headphones.
However, the situation is improving significantly as the technology is developing continuously. Hopefully, that day isn’t far away when you’ll buy great quality balanced headphones at an affordable price.
Complicated Connectivity
Well, the idea behind balanced headphones is a lot more complicated and science than it seems. As a result, lots of people find it quite hard to configure when something goes wrong.
Even slight changes in the circuit system can generate significant degradation in audio quality. And when that happens, especially in a premium quality appliance, it becomes a liability.
Then you have no choice but to seek the help of the professionals, Which’s pretty time-consuming. In some cases, you also have to go for a certain monetary compensation. Needless to say, how frustrating it is when that ends up happening.
Balanced vs Unbalanced Headphones: What’s The Difference?
So far, we have discussed the concept and tried our best to explain it properly. But to catch on to the differences, let’s do a little math, shall we?
Don’t worry. We will try to carry the equation out as simply as possible. But first, let’s get some stuff right.
Signal: S
Noise: N
Conductors: C1 (Unbalanced)
C2 (Balanced)
Now, for an unbalanced connection, when in equilibrium,
C1 = S, i.e. the conductor phase is similar to the signal’s. As a result, the signal ends up travelling along the single conductor only.
C2 = 0, as there’s only one signal wire, i.e. conductor
After the addition of noise,
C1 = S + N
C2 = 0
So, all the noise clusters on the first conductor only and backs the signal up. And since there’s only one conductor, you can’t transmit the signal proportionally either. Eventually, all the inferences cause continuous disturbances as they have nowhere to go.
On the other hand, for a balanced connection,
C1 = S/2 (the normal phase along the first conductor)
C2 = -S/2 (the inverted phase along the second conductor)
And after the addition of noise,
C1 = S/2 + N
C2 = -S/2 + N
As you can see, like the signal, the noise achieves equal distribution.
Now, if we were to combine both of them to get the end result,
C1 – C2 = (S/2 + N) – (-S/2 + N)
= 2S/2 + N – N
= S
So, after all that, all the inferences cancel out on each other. Just because the initial signals were in opposite phases of each other. By the end, you get only the plain inference-free loud and clear signal i.e. audio output.
And that’s the main and mathematical difference between balanced and unbalanced headphones. The additional interferences just add to the existing signal in an unbalanced connection. Whereas, in balanced connections, the interference’s ultimately canceled in the final output.
Can You Hear The Differences Between Balanced and Unbalanced Headphones?
Well, technically both yes and no. You can sometimes physically hear the differences between balanced and unbalanced headphones. However, it’s not a common occurrence. Our ears can’t easily pick up the slight changes in signals around us.
But then again, it’s hard to miss the harsh static noise when the connection gets stable. Even then, it’s hard to tell apart from balanced to unbalanced. Because balanced headphones too, have certain limitations and can contribute to such annoyances from time to time.
Here are some factors that determine whether you’ll get to hear the differences or not:
Hearing Strength
Some people have a keen sense of hearing that transcends beyond the average range. For instance – even though humans can hear up to 20000 Hz, many of us stop as 15-16000 only.
So, if you have a heightened sense of hearing, you might pick up on the differences. In fact, you’ll catch on to them right away as they are significantly different before the experienced ears.
Hardware Quality
Well, good hearing isn’t help if the audio quality itself, is not good at all. You can only nitpick when you have crystal clear audio going on around you.
So, the quality of both the source and receiver matters. Again, the quality of the audio file itself is an important factor as well. Continuous processing, compression, etc. will degrade the file’s quality significantly. So, keep that in mind too before trying to seek out the differences.
Conclusion
So, balanced vs unbalanced headphones, what’s their deal after all? Turns out, it’s a lot more complicated than you may initially think. Quite fascinating to think that just a few tweaks in wire connections can change the overall performance by so much.