You will find many recent threads along these lines. XLR connections are for balanced components and the signal comes through a bit louder. Many components do have XLR connections but are not truly balanced and they convert the signal back to unbalanced. This usually happens in the amp.
My DAC has both balanced(XLR) and unbalanced(RCA) and I bi-amp(run two amps at the same time). The XLR goes to my truly balanced amp powering speakers in my office and the RCA goes to my McIntosh amp(which is not a truly blalaced amp) and this powers speakers in my living room.
Again, you will find many recent threads with many opinions answering this question. Very recent threads. Try doing searches for 'balanced' 'unbalanced' 'XLR', etc.
My DAC has both balanced(XLR) and unbalanced(RCA) and I bi-amp(run two amps at the same time). The XLR goes to my truly balanced amp powering speakers in my office and the RCA goes to my McIntosh amp(which is not a truly blalaced amp) and this powers speakers in my living room.
Again, you will find many recent threads with many opinions answering this question. Very recent threads. Try doing searches for 'balanced' 'unbalanced' 'XLR', etc.