All our preamplifiers or CD players offer true balanced output.
Amplifiers have a balanced input with 27kohm on pin 2 and 3, excepted Heritage and Design series. The design of the circuit inside the unit (and not outside) is symmetrical in all YBA products allowing us to have no passive component on the way of the signal, which is more important for YBA.
Regardless of whether we supply true balanced or not, we always recommend RCA input and output for the following reasons:
In balanced, you have one stage taking care of the positive part of the signal and a second stage taking care of the negative and then you add both together to receive or to send to another unit (amplifier, preamplifier). In adding them you create something that nobody wants; it is a cross distortion.
You experience this distortion because a perfect amplifier does not exist, and you are using 3 different amplifiers to achieve ‘true balance’ but these amplifiers do not have not the same behaviour and are never identical.
Moreover, your power supply is supplying all these amplifiers and then is not as powerful and efficient.
You increase the output stage impedance and then you have less control. Sometimes, it seems better because everything is less on control and the bass is smoother. The gain is higher (the noise also!).
But it is not the truth.
The quality of the XLR contact is only a piece of metal and is of less quality than a good RCA connector.
The only reason to be true balanced is when you are using very long cable in professional studios to avoid humming problems. This is the reason it became fashionable and we see today that even a poor Japanese product can provide balanced outputs and inputs.
We provide balanced XLR connectors for those customers who want or who need absolutely use these connectors for very long cables.
This is normally very rare in domestic installations.