XLR and RCA both are OK, usually XLR give you 3d,spacious sound body.
RCA give you the taste, some time some one said mellow sound.
It’s all depends of your selection.
Some time I will use RCA to XLR cable in small space for vocal jazz, and feel very good.
It also depend on the speaker cable, and pre
I always think a tube pre is not a good choice for SS amp.
If it is a Tube pre +Tube Power or SS pre + SS power or SS pre +Tube power will be better result for sure.
some pass labs fans are looking for first watt model which is all RCA and put pass labs XLR model aside,as they are here to chase the taste.