Considering switching to XLR cables,

This year I celebrate my 50th anniversary of working with XLR connectors, also marking my transition from college hifi guy to professional audio. In every imaginable parameter the XLR is superior to the RCA connector.

But that's not the question. Is it audibly superior at lengths less than 5 meters? The answer is no. At longer lengths, over 10 meters, the answer is unquestionably yes. True balanced connections have much better common mode noise rejection, but until that reaches a meaningful threshold, who cares? 

If you choose to locate your power amps a couple feet from your speakers, and the preamp a 30ft cable run away, balanced - true balanced, not 'Pin 2' balanced (which is actually just unbalanced wired with XLRs) - works much better.  

Using XLRs for nearby peripheral interconnects is fine, but know  that in the context of hifi, it's just a vanity move. In an RFI dense studio, maybe not so much. 

Just calling it as I see it.

Another vote for Pine Tree Audio XLR cables.  I’ve also had a good experience with Blue Jeans cable including XLRs.  I have paid more for Audioquest but no significant sound difference.  

@audioman58 ​​@panzrwagn  ...Ah, 2 schools of thought that seem to have some synergy that I could fart with since the mic cables aren't occupied all the time... *G*

Thank you both, +10👍

@mclinnguy Yeah, I've noticed that on a couple, but seems only in 2~3 of 2 dozen. 

Only had one disconnect itself entirely in my hand, guess QC was @ tea... 😏

Generally the price premium for XLRs over unbalanced cables is pretty small. Transparent are an outlier because the bulk of the cost of a Transparent cable is the networks. This is evident from the fact that Transparent charges relatively little for additional lengths of cable. But balanced Transparent cables need a network for both the hot and cold signals, hence the premium.

One small aspect of XLR's that I prefer is the fact that the pins and sockets in an XLR plug are identical, whereas in an RCA you have a circular negative connection that then has to transition to a different form factor to allow a wire to be soldered to it.

@OP Shunyata Thetas are worth adding to your audition list.

panzrwagn

In every imaginable parameter the XLR is superior to the RCA connector.

It's all about the implementation. I've seen some really horrible XLR connectors that I wouldn't want anywhere near my system. On the other hand, I've seen some really exquisite RCA connectors - some of which even lock - from manufacturers such as WBT. So there is good and bad quality of each.

But that's not the question. Is it audibly superior at lengths less than 5 meters? The answer is no.

I think it unlikely you'd be able to reliably hear differences between XLR and RCA terminations provided each are well built. If the XLRs terminate into balanced connections, you may very well be able to hear and measure differences. For example, many balanced components (such as Audio Research) will have 6 dB greater gain on the balanced connections. If you don't need that gain, you might want to consider that as 6 dB better S/N. Either way, that's a substantial difference and cable length has nothing to do with it.