First Foray into XLR

Anyone who says LRs are of little use is ignorant, or just plain stupid. Sorry

I upgraded my system over a decade ago from rca to fully balanced, but that IS the key. Many manufacturers pay lip service to balanced by providing XLR I/Os BUT their component/s are not actually differentially balanced. In those cases XLRs will not matter. I have my doubts that the OPs kit are

almarg

maybe I have bat ears, but I can hear the difference in the same Eichmann XLR cable: 0.5m v 1.0m

sisyphus, your background makes your lack of knowledge as to why one would use XLR over rca in a typical < 3m audio system (where all components in the signal path are tre balance/differentially balanced even more disturbing

The first thing to be skeptical of is manufacturers who install XLR I/Os, but their component/s ae not balanced internally. How is one to tell anything in tht case? 

Reviewers who are tasked with reviewing actual XLR kit seldom have differentially balanced systems. How many times have I read them say "I hear no difference" Meaning Editors should be shot, then hanged, then shot again for such stupidity, and yet, it has gne on this way fo decades. I used to send nasty letters to such editors, but finally gave up. You can't fi stupid.