Balanced refers to a “three-legged” type of electrical signal that has two legs independent of ground. One is generally considered positive and the other negative in voltage and current flow with respect to ground. Both legs carry the signal. The benefit is that any noise that gets induced into the line will be common to both the positive and negative sides and is thus canceled when it arrives at its destination, assuming the destination is balanced. This phenomenon is called "Common Mode Rejection” and happens because the receiving device sees the common noise in the signal as being out of phase with itself, and cancels it. Balanced lines are generally best for long cable runs due to their ability to reject induced noises. XLR and TRS type cables are designed to transmit balanced audio from one balanced device to another.

Unbalanced cables are less complicated and less expensive but they have limitations. Any audio signal requires two wires or conductors to function. In an unbalanced situation, one of those conductors is used to carry both the audio signal and ground (shield). Unbalanced cables are much more susceptible to induced noise problems than their balanced counterparts because any induced noise in one conductor is not canceled by similar noise in the other conductor and may be carried with the signal into connected equipment. In general, unbalanced lines should be kept as short as possible (certainly under 25-30' maximum) to minimize potential noise problems.

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