My experience has been that if the equipment is fully differential, properly implemented, an XLR cable is a real bonus as the cable is sonically transparent. I've run some very good RCA cables, and in one application where the output of the source and input were fully differential, I could find no meaningful difference between a set of Mogami cables and anything of any price upwards of $1K. And I set that limit of $1K not because I think cables above that can beat the Mogami, it's that I just have no interest in spending more on cables.
And as noted, just because there's an XLR output doesn't mean it's better. I have a Pass Aleph Ono phono stage and I asked the kind folks at Pass which I should use into my Pass INT-150. The answer was- use the RCA
And as noted, just because there's an XLR output doesn't mean it's better. I have a Pass Aleph Ono phono stage and I asked the kind folks at Pass which I should use into my Pass INT-150. The answer was- use the RCA