The interference you may hear when listening to your music is caused by ‘crosstalk’.Ĭrosstalk is where unwanted signals leak between audio channels, causing that electrical interference. However, the potential negative side effect when using an unbalanced connection is the chance to receive unwanted noise or electromagnetic interference. In an unbalanced headphone cable setup, you’ll find two wired conductors sending single audio signals to each channel and a third wire for the ground. If it’s a mono signal, then the TRS cable is balanced, but if it’s a stereo signal being sent through it, then the TRS cable would be unbalanced. Make a note that a TRS cable can be either balanced or unbalanced depending on the type of audio signal you’re sending. The sleeve acts as a shared ground to minimize unwanted electrical noise.The ring conducts audio signals for the right channel or R+.The tip conducts audio signals for the left channel or L+.TRS stands for tip, ring, sleeve, and as you can see, this common unbalanced headphone cable has a contact at the tip, ring, and sleeve. Your typical unbalanced cable is a cable that has three contacts, which is characterized by the TRS layout. When you purchase wired headphones, you’ll typically find an unbalanced cable included in the packaging. If you’d like to watch a video on this topic, below, you can check out our Dekoni U video where we discuss the difference between balanced and unbalanced headphone cables. Let’s first go over what an unbalanced cable is - which is the most common type of cable used in the headphone space - and then we’ll compare it to a balanced cable in order to see the main differences between the two. But we’ll get into that in just a second. In short, balanced headphone cables come with a different connector than unbalanced cables and operate using four different signal paths for audio.
You may be asking, “Why are these cables more expensive than the common unbalanced cable? Do balanced cables improve the quality of my music? What are balanced headphone cables?” It exists only between ground and either of the signal pins, but a dynamic microphone won’t “see” it, because its transducer is only connected to the two signal pins.Have you ever spent time looking for a replacement headphone cable - whether it’s because your previous cable broke or perhaps, you’re looking for an upgrade? When you’re exploring the internet for a new headphone cable, you may come across expensive cables with the term ‘balanced’ attached to them. So there is no voltage difference between hot and cold, and that’s why it’s called phantom power: It is there and it isn’t. Phantom power is a DC voltage, whose positive side is applied to both signal pins. The signal is between hot and cold ground is connected to the cable shield. What Exactly Is Phantom Power, and Can It Be Dangerous to Humans?Ī studio microphone operates with a balanced output: There are three pins: hot, cold and ground. Phantom power shouldn’t harm ribbon mics, either, but since they are very fragile, there is no safety margin in the event of faulty connections or (accidental) hot plugging while P48 is already on. However, just to be safe, it’s better to keep phantom power deactivated for ribbon mics. As long as everything is wired correctly, phantom power does not affect dynamic mics, at all. But what if you want to use a dynamic and condenser mics at the same time, and there’s only a global switch for phantom power? That’s no problem, really. moving coil and ribbon mics, don’t require phantom power (a rare exception being “active” ribbon mics). Can Phantom Power Harm Dynamic Microphones?ĭynamic microphones, i.e. Always connect your mic directly to the XLR mic input. Also, puttting mic inputs on a patchbay is not recommended. Any device in-between will likely block phantom power and/or degrade the sound quality. Also, never put anything between your mic and your microphone input. Hot plugging while P48 is already activated can harm your mics.
Some audio interfaces don’t have a hardware switch, at all instead you must activate phantom power via their control software.Īs a general rule: Always connect your mic(s) first, before you turn on phantom power. Sometimes there is a global switch for all microphone inputs more expensive devices often come with individual P48 switches for each input. All you have to do is press the button labeled “P48”, “48V”, or “Phantom Power”. Just about any microphone input, these days, is equipped with phantom power. The international standard is P48 phantom power (a Neumann invention, by the way). Condenser microphones require external power for their internal electronics.