Balanced xlr or rca for Ayre C5xe

It is provided everything else is truly balanced. Otherwise, no.

Without a doubt, balanced all the way with Ayre equipment.

My preamp does not have balanced input. Comparing different CD players is such a difficult task when the rest of the equipment is different from show room to show room. The only likely thing is that Stereophile probably reviewed the C5xe using its balanced output when giving it the highest rating. Back to the drawing board for me!

I was doing an A/B comparison some time back with an Ayre cx-7e vs a c-5xe going through Ayre k-3 preamp and v-1 amp. I had 2 sets of AQ Cheetahs - balanced and rca. I definitely preferred the rca interconnects. The difference was not subtle.