Through my many years being in the audio business, and listening to an even greater extent I always return to unbalanced interconnect cables for betters sound. Fortunately my Audio Research amplifiers and line stages have provisions for both so it makes a good test. I've done nearly all of my A/B testing using the same brand XLR vs. unbalnaced (RCA) connectors.
Balanced cables
Do different brands/levels of balanced XLR ended cables going to and from differentially balanced components make a difference?