Quote:
Originally posted by bestbang4thebuck:
I wonder if the internal circuitry is designed as "unbalanced" with add-on circuitry to accommodate balanced I/O, or if much of at least the analog sections have a "fully balanced" design? Likely what would provide the best possible fidelity, per Soundhound's comments.
I would hope that the 990's internal design is unbalanced and that the unbalanced part of the circuit is available on RCAs, bypassing the electronic balancing part of the circuit for those who do not want to use the balanced feature.

If this is not the case, I would certainly not be purchasing one - if my ever 950 croaked, I'd look to a different brand.

It is more common for power amplifiers to be fully balanced from input to output. I would certainly stay away from these in favor of designs which are unbalanced with a bypassable balancing circuit on the input for those who absolutely have to use balanced cables.

The "balanced is better" mentality is pure marketing - big XLR plugs on the back of a component certainly do look cool, but cool looking is not always better.