[Tigermoth]

There always seems to be some confusion as to exactly what "balanced" means in an audio sense and why it offers such significant improvements in sound quality and imaging. Here is a link to the best explanation I have read, written by Balanced Audio Technologies, a very, very high end producer of balanced audio components. (Their new balanced preamp goes for a cool $20 K !!)

http://www.balanced.com/faq/balanced.html​

 

[estreeter]

I like the having the choice of both (unbalanced) XLR and RCA connections on a component, but I look at the large number of high-end components which dont offer balanced drive and its not something I worry about in my mid-fi existence. None of the marketing blurb in the link you've given seems to acknowledge the historical advantage of XLR over RCA viz a viz our good friends in the pro world. All is revealed when the rubber meets the road further into proceedings:
 
 
Is there going to be any performance degradation in using a mixed balanced/single-ended system?
No. All BAT electronics will work perfectly with any mix of components. However, moving to a fully balanced system will bring additional musical enjoyment.
 
End of the day, I'll go with the musical enjoyment that doesn't cost 20K. but I am notoriously cheap.  

 

[.Sup]

Thanks for the info!