RCA vs XLR which would say is the BEST?????

I recently set up a sound system for an event at our church. I got everything up and running, then finished running some cable. I ran a cable with single ended 1/4" plugs about 20' across the floor. Soon after that I noticed a hum. It did not take long to determine that this cable was picking up an induced hum from an extention cord that was running next to it. Separating the audio cable from the extension cord solved the problem. However, I tried running a balanced cable next to the extension cord, with a 1/4"/balanced adapter plug at the source end. This also solved the problem.

The point is that there is some benefit from running balanced in that it can reduce background noise. Noise is the curse of many audio systems, and I think one reason balanced cables sometimes sound better is due to reduced noise. But you can also do a lot of good by not jumbling all the cables, power and audio, in a pile behind the equipment. Separate the cables, or at least make sure they do not run parallel to each other.

Happy listening.

Abolutely correct balanced can reduce hum and is of course used by many musicians for stonger transfer of signal with long runs.However the poster will be running .5 to 1 meter.

A lot of the NOT truly balanced preamps still generate twice the gain at the XLR outputs. This may reduce the useful range of your volume control. Check the specs to see if the output of the Bryston doubles between the RCA and XLR outs. Then let your ears be your guide.

In my experience XLR's always sound as good as, and usually better than, RCA's. It might be imaginary but they give the sound a more airy, floaty quality.

A lot depends on what gear you want. There is a lot of great gear out there that does not come with XLR connections. If you can use XLR's and it is truely balanced then go for it. Definitely do it for very long runs. I agree that for short runs, you probably won't notice much of anything if any at all.

I have heard some positive differences using balanced connections for 1m runs vs. same kind of cable single-ended. I don't think anyone can really know this answer short of you trying it out for yourself, despite your wanting to "...only do this once". To me, if you want to know for sure, you'll have to bite the bullet and experiment (just make sure to match volume levels to compensate for balanced's hotter output). At least buying cables on Audiogon if you're so inclined, you probably won't have to worry about taking a hit in the wallet when you go to sell the loser.