This is about XLR vs. 1/4 SE headphone output.
I thought we were talking about XLR vs. RCA input where the output stays the same.
Those are two very different things.
It's not the same as XLR has higher input/output voltage than RCA.
Louder volume doesn't automatically mean better SQ. It's the same with switching from low gain to high gain, it gets louder but the sound doesn't get better (not on this amp at least )
In that quote, I didn't say louder volume means better SQ. Just pointed out that louder volume means RCA and XLR are not the same, theres a difference both using XLR vs RCA and 1/4" vs XLR when using the balanced connection.
With my Pioneer SE-M5 its very easy to tell the difference because it picks up alot of detail that I can't hear my other headphones. Whether I'm just imagining it or its really there, is going to be a point of argument. But theres no arguing that the volume is louder when you can A-B test with the flip of a toggle switch.
I'll just say that the headphone makes a huge difference, if you're trying to measure the difference in flow rate of two rivers by swimming in it, its gonna be hard to tell.
With my Sony MDR1-AM2 I can tell the bass is punchier and stronger impact with the balanced connection on the SP200. Theres alot of things you can't measure on a frequency response graph like bass impact and punchiness and quite alot of other things.
The reason I brought this up is to explore if theres something there worthwhile looking into to enjoy all the features of the amp.