balanced/xlr vs. unbalanced/ single ended

I just went from a SE ARC preamp to a balanced ARC preamp
to utilize the balanced inputs on my JC-1 monoblocks.

The difference is night and day-go balanced.

To my ears I am also pro , true balanced.

My friend has a Meridian 565, 508.24 and yes running fully balanced was a huge difference into the ARC D400 MkII amp to power passive speakers. If the manufactures actually designs a fully balanced piece of equipment (most are not, but the Meridian is) use it!

I have another thread in this forum about this sort of thing. But there are no answers yet so I'll hop on to this one! In general, does delivering a signal to a preamp over balanced connections wind up delivering twice the voltage to the gain stage as using RCA? I ask because I'm worried that if I go balanced with my Pass X1 I will then lose that much more usable range from my volume control.

Physics and gain and noise level difference aside I find that single end provides a more linear, fluid, laid back vs the more open and aggressive, open and in your face sound XLR cables do.
WHen Properly grounded and RCA connectors locked I think they give a superior musicality to the overall sound.
Just my very subjective observations.