Balanced or single ended leads from your arm.

What you prefer Swiss cables over the Purist? Blasphemy!:-)

Hi, I really can't add any more input to the above posters other than I have had very similar experiences. My BAT VKP10SE Superpak has both RCA and XLR inputs. The XLR's yield a little more gain, lower noise floor. The result is that the imaging and detail is better. It's pretty noticable, not small imo.

Good luck...

Ken,
My experience has been that RFI can be significantly reduced by going with balanced cables from the table to the phono stage. In my case, 1000ft. from a large radio tower, RFI is a significant issue, that led me to abandoning many a single-ended preamp. Balanced cables was the single best way to eliminate my RFI problem.
FWIW, any VPI owners out there, you can buy a balanced junction box for $150 directly from VPI that replaces the box on any JMW arm. Yes, a high price for a little metal box with two output jacks, but well worth it for the sanity it provides.
The Neutriks that Albert mentions are by far the pro audio standard, they're cheap & easy to find.
RFI issues aside, I agree w/the other posters that balanced will provide an overall lower noise floor. Go for it! Cheers,
Spencer

This can be a bit tricky, as a phono cartridge is not a true-balanced source(this would require +/- phases referenced separately to ground, or a total of five pins instead of the four found in a cartridge). My BAT P10 phono stage has both RCA & XLR inputs, and a fully balanced internal design. Nevertheless, BAT recommended using RCA inputs into the phono stage, and let the phono stage derive a balanced signal at the input and process balanced through to the XLR outputs. There is a reduction in signal-to-noise ratio when dividing the output of the cartridge coils for an XLR connection. Also Hovland recommended that I terminate their phono cable RCA rather than XLR. They preferred the sound of low-mass RCA plugs to heavier-mass XLRs. So your results may vary depending upon cable & phono stage designs.

Dear Ken: Speaking of an IC phono cable of 1m, balanced vs unbalanced, and using Eichman or Nextgen RCA against Neutrik XLR connectors, with the same cable and in the same phonolinepreamp you could not hear any difference, even in worst cases like Spencer's RFI ( here was a shield problem of the RCA cable. A well shielded cable has no problems at all, at least in 1m cables. ). If you hear differences that ones will be for the different connector but not for the cable it-self or the balanced/unbalanced subject.
Albert I can't be sure but I think that you take advantage of the cryo tratment ( different sound ) and that the Aesthetix has two balanced stages by design.

Now, the most important subject about balanced or unbalanced issue is not at the cables but at the phonolinepreamp design: in any well designed fully ( input to output )balanced phonolinepreamp we take a paramount advantage against an unbalanced design: in a balanced circuit the noise and distortions are canceled and the signal is degraded the less against an unbalanced design. So, the best way to go with a phonolinepreamp is with fully balanced designs, no question about.

Btw, I agree with Dgarretson about that the phono cartridge is not a true balanced source and the BAT recomendation maybe has to be with their own circuit design because there is no reason to take ( input ) a unbalanced signal in a balanced circuit.

I agree too with Neil on the long run IC phono subject: no more than 1.5m.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.