Ayre phono cable??

I have to agree with nsgarch on swithing out the vdh cable. I've used Graham ic 50, Hovland Music groove and now a purist venustas. It's pretty startling.

I run XLR's on my phono cable into my BAT phono stage. It does make a positive difference...although I think this is very dependant on the phono stage design. Your Ayre likely will yield the same result.

If you've been using the vdH Silver Hybrid, you have a big surprise in store if/when you switch to any of the following:

Silver Cable
Hovland MusicGroove 2
Purist Venustas
Cardas Golden Reference
XLO

and probably a couple others I left out.

I couldn't believe what I'd been missing before I got rid of that thing!

You're very lucky to have a balanced input phono preamp or stage. Cartridges are inherently balanced devices, and will transfer more (of their very small) current through a balanced phono cable.

All of the above cables can be ordered with balanced connectors.