I've always preferred single ended over XLR.. I think it sounds smoother, more detailed, more analog and has better contact rather than the little pins on XLR...
XLR really is for broadcast studios, military, commercial systems for noise rejection where there are hundreds of cables going hundreds of feet from studio to studio and lots of grounding issues, I've worked soldering racks full of XLR cables that are all super long runs of mogami cable...
That being said, some equipment is specifically designed to sound better with XLR, but my vote is RCA