Not totally true. The driver settings allow you to switch between +4 and -10 so it's really about the external kit (whether it's consumer or pro). Just use balacened cables and bridge the earth to the cold, as this has the advantage of passive balancing (it will attenuate over distance but it wil be better at interference rejection than plain unbalanced cables.

Ecosystm, why are you asking such silly questions? First this and then about spdif. From your previous posts about acoustical treatment, and other stuff, you seem too knowlegeable to be asking questions like these.

quote:

Originally posted by dj_palm why dont i have any problems then? i just plug my unbalansed into the device, and the manual says its no problem. i get sound, i get sound i like.

If you plug a balanced cable in to an unbalanced peice of kit it will work because it will just use the 2 out of 3 conductors, naturally making the signal unbalanced.

Balanced does not necessarily mean +4 or -10, though. It depends on the output setting of the kit in question.

It is important though as you need to think about gain staging and signal flow levels.