Real experience - Balanced or Unbalanced between Luxman Pre & Power Amps

I am not too surprised that you don’t hear a difference, for short runs balanced is not to important. That said, I would lean towards balanced, and the extra db is a good thing. 
 

I have used Blue Jeans Cables and they are well made and a good value, but with gear of this quality you will hear a significant improvement by spending a bit on interconnects. I am a fan of Acoustic Zen Matrix IC’s and I have a friend with similar Luxman gear that uses them for his system. 

I spent some time thinking through my challenge this morning and am slightly spinning.  Here's where my head went.  

My original question was regarding connecting my pre and power amps for which I've received some great tips. The fun starts when I look at the rest of my system: my phono preamp allows both xlr and interconnect options to a preamp, i currently use the blue jeans xlr.  Should I also upgrade these whilst knowing my deck has interconnects feeding the phono preamp?  

Then onto my streamer and its dac, nordost heimdall usb to DAC and QED interconnect to my preamp. 

Whilst I cannot use xlr for every component, should I use where possible to get the extra gain and interconnect where needed but at minimum same brand and model for them all.  Hmmm.  

Anyone with a basic understanding of electricity will understand there is no difference with interconnects regardless of how they attach. Your hearing is normal and correct.

@roadcykler 

While I share your pessimism for cables making major differences, there are electrical properties from one cable to the next which can make a difference (like capacitance). With that said, almost NO manufacturer (besides BJC’s) will publish their specs so you have an idea of the differences so you avoid confirmation bias! 
 

I’m glad to hear some on hear say they have heard ‘no difference’ which gives me hope, but the profound differences some claim just have never existed for me regardless of the brand or non-science based explanations of why one cable is SO much different from another.