Bypass my digital mixer soundcard

[keithace]

That ain't digital mate. The Digital Output is the one marked "DIGITAL OUT" you then connect that to a decent external DAC with digital-in and the DAC outputs to your speakers. This will give you the "best" sound from the mixer.

By using the ones marked in red however, you are using a better balanced signal to your Soundcard which will reduce noise and probably run louder, I'm guessing thats whats giving you the "enhancement". .

not to go off topic...Do we have a signal flow thread that goes over unbalance and balanaced and the differences? I am sure I can google it. But a thread would be nice so people can ask questions.

[deevey]

not to go off topic...Do we have a signal flow thread that goes over unbalance and balanaced and the differences? I am sure I can google it. But a thread would be nice so people can ask questions.

There is one discussion "somewhere" in this forum (hardware maybe ?) , but for reference this is pretty good regarding the noise factor with nice little diagrams :P

http://www.aviom.com/blog/balanced-vs-unbalanced/

It doesn't seem to mention however that balanced outputs can run anywhere up to around +14db louder as well than the RCA line outputs on the same equipment (depending on the gear).

[SirReal]

I've responded numerous times to many threads involving balanced and unbalanced wiring on this forum. It seems the topic comes up at least a couple of times a year, mostly based on people who don't want to do even the basest research into audio electrical engineering. I chalk it up to the "instant gratification" generation.