I'm a happy owner of a 755, and am considering an upgrade to the 7500. I have a number of questions that perhaps you folks can help me with: 1) What does "balanced" mean, and why should I care? 2) has anyone done a side-by-side listening of these two amps and can share with me what they heard?

I'm not opposed to wasting (I mean spending) tons of money to upgrade my system, but I want to understand that I will be hearing a significant improvement.

Thanks.

Unless you're in a very EMI/RFI noisy environment, switching to balanced connections is unlikely to make any difference whatsoever...other than costing you a few hundred bucks in cabling and the cost of a new amp. Balanced connections are a lot more resistant to induced noise. That's really the only benefit in the home environment.

Cheers,

Thanks. Other than the "balanced" issue, are there significant sonic differences? Any sonic differences?

I haven't seen a 7500 or heard one so I have no idea of either the topology of the new amp or what it sounds like. If it is similar to the 755 with only the addition of balanced inputs, I'd say the sonic differences should be minimal. If you're not getting induced noise through your cables, having the ability to go to balanced connections doesn't strike me as being a very useful reason to spend that kind of $$$ to "upgrade."

Cheers,

JW, I also had some ?? on balanced inputs, audioholics did a review on the Halo A 51, the review started with rca inputs then with balanced cables after they received them. The reviewer was really surprised with bal inputs, and he credits the processor's technology... and wonders if processors that are doing a phase split would provide the same results.

My Qestion is how does a phase slpit effect balanced inputs and is the 990 phase split or not? Not seems better... or does the 990 handle balanced inputs as the Integra Research RDC-7? If so we might be in for a pleasent surprise!!

Here is some of his thoughts.

"With little prior experience with XLR connections, I doubted that I would be able to hear significant change or improvement, but I quickly found that I was dead wrong. When implementing the XLR balanced connections, it was instantly recognized by me and others around me that the sound quality and dynamics improved as the soundstage and tonal signature became more refined. The presence of the music also became more detailed as the bass tightened with significant authority, and most importantly to me, the sound stage elevated. The subtle differences noticed during unbalanced play between the Acurus and Parasound amplifiers suddenly became much more pronounced. It is important to note that the Halo amps were being fed by the Integra Research RDC-7. With other processors or receivers capable of only doing a phase split to give their balanced output the results might not be as impressive."
http://www.audioholics.com/productreviews/avhardware/ParasoundHaloAmps.html

What the Integra apparently does -- which I'm 90% certain the Outlaw 990 doesn't do -- is create the balanced signal for the front channels with two separate DACs.