Please clear up my confusion re: meaning of "balanced" !

the only hiccup would be a polarity issue because the standard for balanced connections is not the same from brand to brand you may have to reverse the polarity to maintain proper polarity because they may be wired with different balanced polarities.

In this case, no hiccup.


XLR pin assignments for the Aqua HiFi DAC and Schiit Audio amp are the same:
Pin 1: Signal ground
Pin 2: Signal + (non-inverting)
Pin 3: Signal - (inverting)

https://www.aquahifi.com/file/manuals/La_Voce_S3_manual_EN.pdf

I’m simply wanting to know whether connecting the Schiit Jotunheim to my Aqua La Voce S2 with a pair of XLR IC’s could result in noise or signal loss.

It won’t result in noise or signal loss.

100% certain Schiit and/or Aqua HiFI will confirm this.

Were you using a differentially balanced DAC with the Schiit Jotunheim, then there is a possibility of less noise versus connecting single ended (RCA connectors + cables) due to the inherent noise cancelling of balanced topology. Would you hear quieter operation? Possibly. It would largely depend upon the noise floor of your system.

You can easily experiment by alternately connecting the Schiit Jotunheim and Aqua La Voce S2 with XLR interconnects, and RCA interconnects (ideally from the same manufacturer and model range to eliminate a variable ).

I am confused about this term. I’ve been told it can refer to either a type of topology or simply a type of connection.

Both.

Many components have XLR (balanced) connectors.

Many of those components have XLR connectors for convenience, but they are not balanced circuits.

Can you connect those two components? Absolutely.

The La Voce S3 Discrete DAC specs state "XLR balanced asymmetrical", which means it is not balanced. The XLR connectors are for convenience if connecting to a preamp or integrated amplifier with XLR inputs. The JOTUNHEIM specs state it is "inherently differentially" balanced. Regardless, you can connect them, you just won’t be taking advantage of better noise rejection provided by a differentially balanced DAC. Will you hear it? Maybe not. You know a differentially balanced DAC module can be added to the JOTUNHEIM, right?