As a counter to that cleeds, and not taking anything away, it is also true that because an RCA connection is used, does not mean that the input is not true differential.
With great gain, comes great responsibility. But seriously, w.r.t. phono, differential gives you the ability to increase gain while decreasing common mode noise, but you are still amplifying differential noise as well as noise internal to the amp. You are not getting 6db for free. You could always crank the gain 6db on a single ended connection, which again, for a cartridge, is already pseudo-differential due to the floating source.
With great gain, comes great responsibility. But seriously, w.r.t. phono, differential gives you the ability to increase gain while decreasing common mode noise, but you are still amplifying differential noise as well as noise internal to the amp. You are not getting 6db for free. You could always crank the gain 6db on a single ended connection, which again, for a cartridge, is already pseudo-differential due to the floating source.