This is a good question. Professional gear often uses something called balanced 1/4" TRS connectors (or XLR), so it's the same diameter, 1/4", as a normal guitar jack plug, but instead of having just a sleve (ground) and tip (signal), it has a three sections the first long section, the sleve, is ground, then the ring (cold or -ve) and then the tip (hot or +ve). The left and right outputs of POD 2.0 are both balanced 1/4" TRS connections. If you use them both, POD will output in stereo, if you use just the left output, then POD 2.0 converts its output to mono form and puts it out through the left hand output.In grounded equipment all the metal is connected and earthed, how exactly the professional equipment (TRS) works I don't know but I guess in that kind of kit the signal can 'float' with its minimum above or below ground, so the peak signal is not necessarily earth plus X (peak) volts. No idea what advantages that (floating) can offer, but there must be some.I don't know much about midi but I think its a digital way to control instruments, in the case of the POD when you connect to the line 6 software, instead of turning the knobs on the POD, the software can do it via the midi interface, and its a two way process so you can store your manual settings on your computer as those lt6 files, or use somebody else's tone suggestions which uses the software and the midi interface to set up your POD. I have a keyboard with midi in and out and with some DAW software (lite version school freebie) my daughter many years ago wrote a tune for school project. But with that software she could actually use a mouse and picture of a keyboard on a screen, just quicker to use an actual keyboard to put the notes into the tune. That's the extent of my MIDI knowledge so far, but I now have Reaper DAW, so I want to connect the POD to my computer, so I also want to know what is the recommended or best way to connect the POD 2.0 to a sound blaster live sound card (and I have found something, see below).One guy on YouTube connected the headphone output to his soundcard. There's the microphone input socket on my soundcard but also line level inputs."Line level is the specified strength of an audio signal used to transmit analog sound between audio components such as CD and DVD players, TVs, audio amplifiers, and mixing consoles.
As opposed to line level, there are weaker audio signals, such as those from microphones and instrument pickups, and stronger signals, such as those used to drive headphones and loudspeakers. The strength of these various signals depends on the output voltage of the source device, along with its output impedance."
Thus Line levels unfortunately mean different things from the wikipedia article:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_levelin professional sound studios they use dBU, in consumer products they use dbV."A line level describes a line's nominal signal level as a ratio, expressed in decibels, against a standard reference voltage. The nominal level and the reference voltage against which it is expressed depend on the line level being used. While the nominal levels themselves vary, only two reference voltages are .common: decibel volts [dBV] for consumer applications, and decibels unloaded [dBu] for professional applications."
Note from the POD manual these outputs will also work 'happily' with unbalanced -10dBV equipment and standard guitar cables.
From Line 6's knowledge base.
"Q: How do I conenct the POD to my computer to record?
A: In order to record the audio signal of your POD / POD 2.0 directly into your computer, you will first need the proper type of software that is capable of recording audio loaded into your computer. (e.g. Reaper)
You will also need a sound card that has an audio input.
If you have a Soundblaster type of card, you will need a cable that has two 1/4 inch mono plugs on one end and one 1/8 inch stereo plug. This cable can be found at most major music retailers. The two 1/4 inch mono jacks on this cable will need to be inserted into the POD's Left and Right Outputs and the other end of the cable should be inserted into the audio input of your computer's sound card. Make sure your sound card and audio software are configured to receive audio input and you should be ready to record.
If you are using another type of soundcard, like a unit that has an external break out box, you can plug directly into that box using a regular guitar cable of a balanced (TRS) cable. Be sure to check the documentation that came with the unit to configure it correctly."
My guess is that when POD refers to the audio input that's the line level input, on my card that is the blue coloured socket.
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