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balanced vs unbalanced guitar cables

how do i tell if my cables are balanced or unbalanced?

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  • The one on the left is balanced. The one on the right is unbalanced. Notice the one extra black stripe on the balanced one.

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  • OK great – heres my question. I just bought an Apogee Duet. I am currently running balanced XLR cables from my GNX4 to my sub, and then running balanced XLR cables from the sub to my monitors (all Behringer). The Duet, as far as I know, can only use ¼” cables which are unbalanced (I suppose that means for both inputs and outputs). So here are my questions:

    1. Can I somehow run the GNX through the Duet and monitor through the Behringers? Would that cause latency?
    2. Can I mix and match the balanced XLRs and unbalanced guitar cables? For example, can I go Duet to the sub with ¼” unbalanced, then sub to monitors using the balanced XLRs? Would that have any detrimental impact on the sound?
  • The only thing that would contribute to any latency would be the the apogee's processing requirements, so I'd assume there wouldn't be much.

    Mixing bal and unbalanced cables may produce noise issues. If the connections are not lengthy, you should be fine, but I would recommend consistency in cable types. You can try it.
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