The XLR will give you 6db of additional gain and is theoretically more quiet. I use balanced inputs and outputs on my phono stage but models with both are harder to find. That being said, over a distance of 2 meters you probably won't notice a huge difference other than the increased gain.
How will XLR cables vs RCA effect a phono pre
I have an TNT V with SME IV type 6 tonearm with a Sumiko Sho cartridge that is a high output at 47K ohms and the output voltage is 2.3 mV. I have had to move my turntable so the cable going to ARPH3SE is one meter, but the cable going to Krell Pre-Amp needs to be 2m. If I were to upgrade to another phono pre-amp, would I be better off looking for one with XLR connections? I notice that there are not a lot of phono-pre that have XLR. Why is this? Would I be better off with a battery pre that seems to be very quiet or bite the bullet and look at BAT or similar? Can someone explain the difference between using RCA or XLR cables on a turntable and phono pre-amp? Any help greatly appreciated.