Caiman passive output mod revealed

[MartinT]

...which leads to fully balanced design with XLR outputs, yay!

Please?

[Reid Malenfant]

...which leads to fully balanced design with XLR outputs, yay!

Please?

How about using two DAC chips in differential mode to do this? Surely a better idea than converting single ended to balanced

[MartinT]

Yes, was thinking that, cancels out the distortions rather nicely too.

[Reid Malenfant]

Indeed

[StanleyB]

Balanced leaves me hot and cold... I don't even own a balanced amp. I am not running a studio set up after all.

[Reid Malenfant]

<snip> Balanced leaves me hot and cold... I don't even own a balanced amp.

You don't know what you are missing Stan, get up to date

I much prefer a balanced system & i'm sure Martin will totally agree The difference between balanced & single ended isn't subtle, it's quite noticeable

[MartinT]

Agreed! Stan, balanced is not just for studios. It inherently has lower noise floor and better noise rejection but the thing I find is that balanced connection always sounds more dynamic and tighter in the bass, too - especially when the whole system is connected that way.

[nickbojko]

Try the em8740,balanced out and you can tap the + signal from each channel for single ended.

[nickbojko]

I ment the wm8740.

[StanleyB]

All well and true for a more expensive system, but the average punter is more into a T-amp, Grado SR80, and some bookshelf speakers. For him/her a balanced DAC is a waste of money. What that person is looking for is something with high satisfaction level at no more than £99.99 to £149.99. There isn't much out there that currently satisfies those buyers and their budget. The TC-7510 sold by the lorry full each year because it mainly catered for those kind of users. But few DACs in that price range have shown up lately with the same giant killer instinct. High tech designs with prices starting at £299.99 are now the norm rather than the exception. They can afford to be XLR.
But the budget conscious have been cast aside and left to take a punt on unknown quantities found on eBay. In the mean time only the expensive high- end solutions to each problem are being served up by many newcomers to the DAC market. It's economic overload for the financially hard pressed. We need a new revolution that will take us back to financial reality and serve us up with cuisine at take away prices.
The TC-7510 was one of those DACs that set a new trend with its features, performance and price. Even a two or more year old version can still sell on eBay for more than 80% of its original purchase prise. How many DACs can boast of the same value holding ability, let alone a budget DAC? If it had been balanced I doubt it would have been so cheap, and so popular at its price point. Maybe that explains why there was never a MK7 version .