Balanced XLR vs RCA for phono stage

elliottbnewcombjr

... Short runs in home audio systems (no mics, mixers, eq ...), where no problem exists, make no logical sense ...

Many components that are differentially balanced yield 6 dB more gain in balanced configuration; or, you could see that as gaining 6 dB in s/n. So depending on the equipment, there can be very much to gain by using XLR connections.

@cleeds From the Goldnote manual: (Output specs) Unbalanced RCA @ 2V and balanced XLR @ 4V

The specs on their website show +12dB for the balanced output.

To your point, that seems like a lot of gain or s/n.

If the PH-10 is truly balanced AES48, not doubting it as Gold Note is a quality designer and builder. This really falls into the domain of a fellow like Mr Ralph @atmasphere as he has posted several times on this subject. 

@macg19 Wrote:

I have no clue what the pros and cons are for balanced XLR vs. single ended RCA, other than XLR is preferred for long runs.

See article below:

Mike

https://www.ranecommercial.com/kb_article.php?article=2107