Balanced in phono stages preamp?

Agree completely with Jfrech.

I use balanced as much as anything because it's a more secure and firmer fitting connection for my oversize cables, less likely to strain connections than the light weight RCA's.

I do think the balanced in on my Aesthetix Io is a bit better but not enough that I would suggest a person sell off their RCA to change. Next time you upgrade I suggest going for the XLR though, assuming your preamp supports it.

My turntable is the Walker, I ordered a spare (brass) connector plate for it and bored it for XLR. I kept the original RCA connector plate version in case I ever needed to switch back.

Herman, I think I agree with you :^).

I have some balanced stuff and run it with balanced cable because I think it's a little bit better that way.

But who knows, perhaps if it had been designed from day one as single ended it would sound better than it does now in balanced.

Interesting comments for sure.