When to choice XLR over RCA ICs.

If you can hear the difference with cables that short, you have 'dog's ears. :-) 

If your system is 'balanced' and a you're a tad anal XLR cables would put your mind at ease. They won't make it worse. 

It is worthwhile to try them, there are two places for differences.. between the components themselves and the cables. In general you are not going to hear a sound quality difference between the two cables of the same construction (same level, one balanced and one not), although the XLR will be a little louder. Then the question will be on the components.

When I got my most recent Audio Research components (which are of balanced design) I had unbalanced Transparent interconnects, so I compared with balanced… which cost a lot more. If there was a difference it was really really subtitle.

I decided to upgrade another level of cables… and chose balanced… just because the industry is headed that way and it is Audio Research’s recommendation. If I was still upgrading my system, I would probably put the money elsewhere. Iike direct lines, or vibration control.

I would not upgrade from unbalanced to balanced at the same level of interconnect. But if in the market to upgrade interconnects to match your system, that would be the time to do it. But you must verify that XLR outputs do sound the same or better. On some gear, they may not.

as per xlr vs rca itreally depends on length and components design.

long runs xlr is preferred if the devices are truly balanced ie differential cicuits then xlr

if thedevice uses a trasformer to turn rca to xlr the use rca.

hope that helps

Dave and Troy

audio Intellect NJ

Many differentially balanced components will yield 6dB more gain when operated fully balanced - that is, balanced input and output. Another way to look at that is a 6dB improvement in s/n. That can be noticeable.