Originally posted by SteveCallas:
I was under the impression that balanced connections could also cancel hum and noise picked up from other parts of the system if they ran through the cables or circuity downstream of the interference, is this wrong?
That is wrong. The only thing a balanced connection does is cancel interference picked up by the cable between the balanced components. It does nothing to cancel noise or hum from other components downstream or upstream. A balanced connection can also break a ground loop between two components, but the addition of the extra active circuitry in a balanced component is a high price to pay. Ground loops can be remdeied by other means that do not involve additional circuitry.
In a typical home setup with interconnects that are 6' or so in length, there is almost no chance of picking up hum or noise that cannot be simply avoided by more careful physical routing of the interconnect away from AC power cables and such.
Again, the balanced connection was originally created in the professional world to overcome interference picked up in cables up to hundreds of feet in length in studios. This situation simply does not exist in a home.
[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited July 27, 2004).]