Audition both. That's the same thing I have found. It depends on the equipment. In most cases, I there isn't enough difference to say one way or the other. I do remember switching from a 2 Meter SE to 2M Balanced between my pass labs mono amps / pass labs pre made an improvement that was immediately noticeable. On my CD to preamp - it really didn't make a difference. Slightly different sound but not better or worse.
What I have heard from others is that if you have 2 meters + length in your interconnects, or a noisy environment, a balanced will pull ahead of a SE cable. One of my friends who has worked in recording studios says it makes a very large difference in that environment. A downside of balanced cables is that in some cases an audio component will have the balanced circuitry grafted onto a single ended design. The result being that you are going through more electronics, but not getting balanced noise cancellation through the component itself.
What I have heard from others is that if you have 2 meters + length in your interconnects, or a noisy environment, a balanced will pull ahead of a SE cable. One of my friends who has worked in recording studios says it makes a very large difference in that environment. A downside of balanced cables is that in some cases an audio component will have the balanced circuitry grafted onto a single ended design. The result being that you are going through more electronics, but not getting balanced noise cancellation through the component itself.