I think in general, balanced studio connectors are superior because they offer several advantages. You get common-mode-rejection which means no ground loops (no 60 Hz hum) and no RFI. If it's 600 ohm terminated you can also have long signal runs without any issues at all. You can also use stock studio cables without much difference in sound although they have a huge difference in price. Mogami Studio Gold is my interconnect in my main listening room and I've found it to be neutral, transparent, and of course, remarkably inexpensive by audiophile standards. I run approximately 150 feet of cable in the walls of the house from the Weiss DAC1 mkIII in the machine room direct into an Atma-Sphere MA-2 MkIII in the studio with no ill effects. I think that's around $200 or so when purchased from a spool. You also get an extra 6 dB of headroom. All good things in my opinion.
Internally changing an unbalanced signal to a balanced signal is common in studios and radio stations. Sometimes they have a piece of unbalanced equipment in the chain that they want to use. There's no real issue with that although the advantages of a balanced signal are of course lost up to the point of conversion.
One of the reasons I purchased a BHSE was the fact that it was balanced. This will allow me to patch into the Weiss and run about 25 feet of Mogami from a wall plate connector to my workstation which is just outside of the studio. If it was unbalanced, I would need to consider a second DAC from my workstation to the BHSE because of the need for short cable runs alone. For the price of a second DAC I can buy a BHSE and a pair of Stax ear speakers with money left over - but that's not entirely why I bought one.