XLR waste of time ?

Jimjoyce, The XLR connector is just a better design than an RCA one. Thinner pins for less eddy current problems, better contact, firmer connection, etc. This is not to say that ALL XLRs will sound better than ALL RCAs, because as you infer there has been quite a lot of development in RCA connectors, largely to overcome their inherent problems. BNC connectors are inherently way better for single-ended audio and should have been the standard, at least for high-end stuff. The RCA connector is only about convenience.

Nrenter makes a great point. I recently found this out when I was ordering a DIN to XLR phono cable from a guy on eBay who makes them cheaper than what I have to pay for the individual parts. He had no idea how to construct a balanced cable, even though he is in the business. He built it to my specs finally, with separate but equal conductors for the positive and negative halves of the signal and the shield separately grounded. I have not done the research to determine whether this problem is common to even megabuck cables. (I paid $70 for the finished cables, which I then terminated myself with my choice of XLRs.)

XLR circuit has two to three times the complexity of RCA, not to take away the transparency and purity of the signal.

Nrenter, Its a fact that there are cable guys out there that have no idea how to execute balanced cables, especially ones for phono!

Most arms that have a 5-pin connection are perfect balanced sources, as the wires are shielded by the arm tube itself. This includes all the old BSR, Garrard, Dual and other inexpensive 'tables from the 60s and 70s- they are very easy to convert to balanced without any mods to the arm at all. With newer arms that use the 5-pin DIN, its easy- just change out the cable.

In fact it is even possible to set up an arm with RCAs for true balanced operation, as long as there is a grounding post and the RCA jacks are isolated from ground. We make a special cable for that. It can't be done if the arm ground is tied to the minus of one channel (which causes a ground loop), like you see in some air-bearing arms. BTW it is this ground loop issue which is why most arms employ 5 wires (the 5th for ground) rather than 4.

Let me rephrase the question: What XLR connectors do you (or anyone) view as equal to or better than an Eichmann silver RCA?

Dear Gallant_Diva, You wrote, "XLR circuit has two to three times the complexity of RCA, not to take away the transparency and purity of the signal."

That is the old argument for those who believe that single-ended circuits are per se superior to balanced ones, because of lower parts count. I think the argument is spurious, and I could tell you why but it would take too long. Anyway, in the case of the last few posts, we were talking about the relative merits of the two types of connectors (XLR v RCA), as connectors.