I remember KK writing that 'in all cases, balanced is preferable to unbalanced' ... but ime, as stated above, it all depends on the implementation. Actually, Neil, I reckon my current EAR amps sound a smidge better when connected together using the balanced connectors, but my Rega cdp is clearly superior via its rca outputs (despite Rega insisting the XLR outputs are better). Might re-visit the EAR rca connections in light of your comment, but the implementation that TdP uses takes both signals through the same isolating transformers, so shouldn't be any difference really ... maybe it's differences between interconnects that are the culprit?