Balanced vs. Single Ended Interconnects

I outlined my experience in another post. XLR hiss through speakers - RCA silence. Can anyone explain this? Pre is Aesthetix Calypso - amp EAR 534. 

I outlined my experience in another post. XLR hiss through speakers - RCA silence. Can anyone explain this? Pre is Aesthetix Calypso - amp EAR 534. 

Did the amp hiss when the preamp was not powered?
If so, then the preamp was making the hiss.

To clarify, my ultimate goal is to utilize the fully balanced design of the DAC and Pathos (fully balanced preamplifier section).  I don't have any XLR cables at the moment and will have to wait a while before purchasing anything else that smells of audiophile.

I'm sure that I could borrow cables from a friend.  I am a fan of Blue Jeans Cables, but it would cost $60 plus shipping which is starting to be a significant amount of the $200ish that I'll eventually spend on Audioquest Red River cables.  I think the Monoprice cables would run under $20 and I have been using them at my church for quite a few years without issue.

I'm not sure what approach I'll take with purchasing XLR cables when the time comes.  On the surface it would seem that balanced cables should make far less of a difference than a single ended cable simply because noise should become an insignificant factor.  With that being the case, does it matter if the cables have fancy geometry that's normally used for noise rejection in single ended cables?  Things to ponder in time.

Stay with your AQ RCA cables until you can buy a good set of XLR cables.  Buying the monoprice XLR is throwing $20 away. They won’t beat your audioquest cables. 
Also, my recommendation is to make bigger steps while upgrading. So if you want to stay with AQ go up to something like the Wind. Bypass the Red River. Or get better cables from another brand but stay in a price range of around $300-$500 for a used pair.

In addition to being a lifelong audiophile, I've done mobile  sound reinforcement work as a "geezer jockey". 50-Foot cable runs between components left balanced XLR connections between BALANCED components indispensable in terms of eliminating EMI and RFI. I always used "Canare" cables with gold XLR connectors. And I never had a reason to use anything different. I've also compared Canares between my home audio components; and compared them to pure silver Audio Magic RCA interconnects which lock securely to the RCA jacks on my components. And I'm hard pressed to hear any difference in SQ. So I stick with my Audio Magic cable dimp[ly because I've invested hundreds of dollars in them.