@bigwave1
I suspect (but don’t know) that there is no “3db gain” with a balanced connection in the digital domain. I mean, you’re either saying “1” or “0”, but more forcibly?
Not to say the signal might not come in stronger (perhaps 3db more if one hooked it to a amplifier without a DAC, or more clearly, but it’s not “gain” like one would think of it in the analog world, as in “louder” after it comes out the analog side of a DAC.
Again, this is purely a hunch, not knowledge.