Balanced cables

@fsonicsmith
Good points. Though, I’d assume most reviewers don’t have XLR on hand because only a small subset of gear actually *requires* it.

In the case of components which offer both XLR and RCA inputs and/or outputs, it’s probably worthwhile to understand the circuit topology. I don’t know what "pseudo balanced" means. But in many cases (such as in my EAR Yoshino gear), the balanced connectors are offered as a presumed convenience only. For example, my EAR 890 amplifier has balanced and unbalanced inputs selected by a switch. And when I switch to the RCA inputs, then the input transformers are bypassed. Transformers are probably the best way to convert balanced to unbalanced or vice versa, but they have a sound. So now if I prefer transparency, then I should use the unbalanced inputs. But if I prefer the additional transformer coloration, then I could use the XLR. One is not definitively "better", and the only thing to do is try it both ways.

One possible benefit in general of balanced is the elimination of any potential ground loops.

@68pete

That was exactly my point. Also depends on the source. If a phono, which in MOST cases run single ended in, then I don’t see a reason to favor converting back and forth from single ended to balanced downstream in the chain vs just staying single ended all the way.... assuming you don’t have a mixture of true balanced devices and single ended devices in the chain - which itself is a little weird.