[castleofargh]

  I don't know anything about any of this, but form what I can tell, investing much moolah in a balanced cable for my iems would be a complete waste.

yes and no, if you already have a balanced amp, chances are it works better in balance mod (audibly or not). now the extra voltage swing in itself is indeed a total waste of money for IEMs. depending on the situation it might even lead to an imbalance problem as you would need to lower the volume knob even more(irrelevant on digital volume and digital volume controls).