I’ll give you a specific example from my system. Starting with Turnable, I only have RCA inputs on my Audio Research Ref 3SE phono stage so I have a high quality phono cable (AMG Reference) with RCAs from TT to phono preamp. I have read that the cartridge is fully balanced so using an RCA connection to a fully balanced phono preamp retains a balanced signal. I don’t understand this but I’ll take it at face value. I originally had high quality RCA interconnects (Hovland) from phono preamp to preamp. Sound was fine. I read in the Audio Resesrch manual that they recommend balanced cables for best performance so I tried a lower end audioquest xlr cable I had and I perceived an modest improvement. I then bought a new set of Cardas Clear interconnects to try and they also provided another modest improvement. So in my case more expensive XLR did show an improvement. My preamp is a. Bricasti M12 and it is also supposed to be fully balanced. Preamp connects to active ATC speakers so connection from preamp to amp is also XLR and so presumably fully balanced from TT to amp. Keep in mind I thoroughly enjoyed my system with original configuration. The benefits I heard are real but modest. I think budget should inform how far along you want to take this knowing that you will enjoy what you have along the way.
