Thank you for all your comments. Regarding the Kubala Fascination RCA IC and speaker cables. When I purchased the Magges a will back at the time I compared the Kubala to Nordost cables and another pair that I don't remember. At the time the Maggies were not broken in so they were very bright with the Nordost. YOu may know that Maggies can take a year to break in which I wasn't aware of at the time. The Kubala had a overall good balance and tamed the brightness so I purchased them. IMO and my system they are probably titled to the warmer side. I can't say I'm disappointed with them. I've always liked the fullness of tube sound and todays products have brought the warmth of tubes and digital a lot closer. Over time I've moved to all balanced electronics so reason for considered balanced, and also they are recommended by ARC if noise is present, but Pass didn't feel there would be any difference. I will check with Kubala on the Fascination XLR for a direct comparison..
So I'm considering lower cost cables since a friend let me try the Kubala Elation XLR (very expensive) between the DAC and the preamp, and I had a cheap pair of Cardas between the Preamp and amp. The difference was subtle with a more relaxed presentation not necessarily better, and probably not a fair comparison. the Cardas may have negated the benefit of the Elation. The major difference in that combination was the gain across the preamp, not that it was needed but present. I do live in the northeast and definitely in the evening the system sounds much better, cleaner and happy with the current set up. So curiosity about any noise that may be present and trying XLR.
At the end of the day in this hobby, always curiously looking to see if there is more in resolution, transparency, without sacrificing weight/fullness of that mid range magic at a reasonable cost. thanks again.