balanced vs. unbalanced sound quality

Hey Milpai! I actually just bought a cheap pair from, ahem, best buy, and i did get more bass, lower noise floor and no hum! I'll be ordering the cables you suggested once funds are available. On a side note, I was talking to a guy from gik yesterday and he suggested I move my speakers back a foot or two and move pull my listening chair 3 to 4 feet from the back wall... Anyhow, when I feel like moving them, I may do so and see what happens.

My experience is this. If your system is fully balanced from source to speaker terminal, as is mine, you'll probably get better sound using balanced interconnects. I tried some inexpensive XLR interconnects on a lark, just to hear what balanced might sound like. The improvement over my expensive single ended interconnects was immediate and material.

It is system dependent. But in a system where all the components are fully balanced, balanced is the way to go.

Egrady,
You are right, the true is either type of cable may be the better solution depending on the system`s make up.
In certain configurations the RCA cables will be equal or better in sound quality. Audiofeil was right in saying it really does depends on the'individual' system(components involved and circumstances).For limo`s particular case the balance was the superior choice.There is no universal right or wrong here.
Regards,

So much bad information concerning balanced audio and the advantages. Balanced audio is not 2 signals, one 180 degrees inverted to eliminate common mode noise. That technology is used for digital transmission to null out any interference caused by environment or more importantly, other digital signals in the same cable bundle. Balanced audio utilizes 2 identical signal path circuits, one for each "leg" of your audio signal. The foremost advantage is that  there is no congested ground path for all signals, audio and power supply to distort the audio signal.  All currents through a ground path drop voltage due to small resistance.....noise!   Picture a toy slinky...both hands moving for balanced audio...Picture the same slinky attached to a table top on one end and only one hand moving for unbalanced audio....I'm not saying the difference is "huge"...but it has nothing to do with differencial noise elimination.

XLR has always been better sounding for me