Sennheiser PC37X randomly goes bad after disconnecting the cable ?
Greetings, Yesterday I was using my headset like normal with my macbook, just listening to music and on a call with people like usual, and the headset was perfectly fine. The stock wire that came with the headset is extremely long and yesterday it annoyed me very much that it kept getting tangled with itself, so I decided to see if the cable is replaceable. I pulled out the cable from the headset and saw the adapter, and looked online for a replacement. Upon plugging it back in, the audio sounded extremely muffled and washed out. Im not sure what I did wrong to make it mess up like that as I've always taken good care of it, ive had it for about 2 years and its always just been chilling on my desk, but anywho I thought the cable just went bad and ordered a replacement. The replacement came, and the issue is still persistant, so I am not sure what the issue is I've tried multiple different headsets and the issue is not with the port, and I also tried it with my windows laptop and...
Apr 23, 2024
If you compare this to the TA-20 balanced Amp (not DAC), it explicitly states that it has balanced input and output. The TA-20 also has an LED labeled "balanced" on the front, which is missing from the TA-10. This information -- plus xDuoo confirming that without additional components the TA-10 is single-ended -- I can confirm that this is Single-ended.
[and unfortunately since does not have a SPDIF input, I'm personally not interested- I prefer to be able to break the ground loop]
The TA-20 went out of its way to clearly and unambiguously state it had both balanced input and output. That is unambiguous.
The ta-10 says that the app is balanced between solid state and the amps, plus it can be reconfigured to be used as a component in a balanced system by reconfiguring two inputs so be balanced outputs. Nowhere does it state how to turn the ta-10 into a balanced output system. And, when asked, a rep says that the TA-10 is single ended.
This seems pretty clear and the tpoint was the use of "balance" and"balanced" does not always mean balanced output. If the product had a balanced output, it would have clearly stated it had a balanced output.
I don't think people are going after this for a full true balanced system. This is more having everything in the cheapest with decent power (Magni 2 level power) all in one for just a little more than a Magni 2 Schiit stack with the ability to roll the tube to change the sound.
Let's think about logistics, though. If there are two/four channels going to the powered out ports, assuming the DAC has 8 channels, plus the SPDIF being two channels, and the single ended outs being one channel each, is that enough to assume a semi-balanced setup via channels? I'd assume you'd want two separate DACs, which at this price I doubt there would be two DAC chips in there (the jotunheim DAC has two of these chips in it and Schiit charges 150, so let's assume 100 for parts and a little extra for labor to put the DAC in the jotunheim so maybe 30 profit off the DAC? I doubt Xduoo is able to make money at this price if they had two DACs inside) Purists will argue for separate DAC chips to handle left and right to truly isolate left and right in a balanced setup. If you can isolate left and right in separate channels on a single DAC chip and have the same result, maybe you could call it balanced if they handle the DAC channels correctly, but the chip is still decoding both left and right, which most balanced purists will call out as not truly balanced. But, if you can separate them with a multi-channel DAC (that's where people with electrical engineering info have to weigh in on if it's possible to still be balanced with a single multi-channel DAC chip and if the Xduoo is wired correctly if it can be) then it's maybe a hybrid balanced if you use the USB port?
Again, I'd argue against it being dual-dac balanced at this price, and only if you can make the DAC to analog internals balanced via a multi-channel DAC chip could you envision it as balanced. I'd just take it for the cheap DAC/tube amp with an XLR port, even though the XLR port doesn't increase the power output.