Herman brings up a good point. Traditional measurements illustrate how machines hear, not how humans hear. I too was convinced by all the reading I did that a balanced set-up would have advantages over single ended, and it may have, but I could not really hear a difference, especially with the critical factor I was benchmarking against which was reduced noise floor.
xlr vs rca
I understand it is better to used balance interconnects if possible. Is this always the case? Furthermore, if one modifies an rca cable with something like Cardas adapters at each end will it perform as well as a cable that was originally terminated with balanced connections? Thanks for any input.