Newbie: unbalanced versus XLR on DAC

.

there is no consensus

.

never has been

.

never will be

.

I would not get a new DAC just to be able to run balanced interconnects unless I had a very long run; like maybe 20' or more, UNLESS my amp was designed specifically to run balanced.

Balanced connections are usually twice the power being passed, besides the other considerations.
IF you already have enough gain, you really do not need twice as much gain balanced provides.
This is one aspect of balanced few pay any attention to, but should!
I have pretty much abandoned balanced because the extra gain is just a waste of time. And the unbalanced often sounds better anyway. Unless the product is a true balanced design, the balanced out is accomplished by a cheap op amp. and then it is usually wasted anyway because most amps are not really fully balanced.
It is a 'marketing tool' in the worst sense.
IF you have true, fully balanced multi tens of thousands of dollar stuff, then yeah use the balanced is a no brainer, if not, forget it.
(it is very much like 'biamping' plenty of catchphrase and cachet, but little substance for most uses.)

Balanced generally has a lower noise floor.

The rDAC looks like a neat unit that has elements from some very high-shelf designers (dCS and Wolfram). Arcam also has years of experience producing top source gear without balanced outputs.

Suggest you might want to

- Use USB (with length of 8 feet or less - and forget using any wireless) to take full advantage of Asynchronous mode.

- Experiment with feeding it battery power, to replace its stock, inexpensive, switched power source.

Let us know how it works out for you.