This is not the answer you are looking for because it's vague however in my opinion you have to try it for yourself, in your own system, to really know what you prefer. That's not an inexpensive thing to do unless you have some friends or a dealer that can loan you some balanced cables.
Advantage of Balanced over RCA for phono cables
Anticipating the arrival of an Aesthetix Io phono pre and wonder if there's solid advantage to cabling the front end with balanced cables.
The run from TTable to phono pre, and phono pre to preamp will not be longer than 1 meter. The associated gear is Aurum Acoustics solid state CD/preamp and Aurum hybrid amp (proprietary SS amp for woofer, 300B and 6SN7 tubes for mid and high frequencies).
I don't really understand the need for balanced cables for other than signal coherence and fidelity over long runs. Just my ignorance.
Hope you can help me understand the potential virtues and pitfalls.
Best, and Thanks Ahead,
David