SQ difference XLR vs RCA ?

All my equipment is balanced (Audio Research Reference) and Audio Research recommends using balanced. I have tried both. I was unable to hear a substantial difference. Since, more and more manufacturers are headed that way (I think), I went ahead and switched over all my interconnects. More as a just in case thing.

If my system was not in what I consider it’s apex state, I would not have changed over. I would have applied the money to improving components. There may be other components more sensitive to the interconnect used. I am sure Audio Research put a lot of effort into converting the signal …

Well put @ghdprentice - especially the “improving components” part.

If the context of the thread; we were smart we would make a list of the source and receiving component and whether it makes a difference.

• Gear with both RCA and Balanced maybe have different sounding paths
• Some gear may look balanced, but not be truely balanced.
• etc

On the equipment I've owned (Hegel, Cary Audio, and McIntosh), XLR wins every time. They all were fully balanced. The differences were most definitely subtle, but noticeable.

@gillsysb 

Thank you for your comments. Let me respectfully ask one question… is there a chance that you were reacting to the increase in volume and not the quality of the sound? It is really easy to react to the increase in volume… which does not in any way enable your system an advantage. 
 

I am fortunate enough to have a preamp that allows me to easily equalize volumes and then make comparisons. 

Anything that I purchase in the future will be fully balanced. I am that convinced. The answer to your question is "I don't think so".

@coralkong , All my analog equipment runs balanced including the tonearm and phono stage. Digital runs are AES/EBU, Optic , Thunderbolt and USB. With the volume all the way up you can only hear noise on Phono with your head in the speaker.