Balanced Input Matters?

[ozanerkal]

Hi people,
During home use, I always keep my guitar connected to my axefx's front input but at live situations, I use an AKG wireless and I used to connect its receiver's output to the Rear Input with a simple TS cable. Then I read about the front input's "secret sauce" and started to connect the AKG receiver to the front input.

Lately, I realised that the AKG's output is "Balanced". I wondered if a balanced connection would make a change, so I checked the user's manual of the axefx and saw that the front input is not balanced. (at least it's not mentioned)

The rear input is balanced, but it doesn't have the "secret sauce".

Now I know that the secret sauce is about lower noise floor, so it's a good thing obviously. But maybe sending a balanced signal (thru a TRS cable) from the AKG output to the balanced rear input would beat the secret sauce of the front input...

Let me add that the AKG wireless already has some amount of noise reduction that I cannot control.

So what do others do? front v rear, balanced v unbalanced, what would you suggest?

You can just say "try", but I don't think it would make much difference at home and I usually have no such time to try it at venues.

 

[Rex]

Don't sweat balanced vs. unbalanced at the input. You've got a short run of well-shielded cable. For that matter, the rear input probably won't make an audible difference with what you're doing.

But by all means, try out the different options at home. Home is a more critical listening environment than most gigs. If you don't hear a difference at home, you won't hear a difference on the road.