balanced/xlr vs. unbalanced/ single ended

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.

I'm using a Meridian 861 and I too found a noticeable improvement with balanced cables over single ended.

If you really want to take advantage of balanced line operation, consider shortening you speaker cables (as short as you can make them) and then run long balanced interconnects.

If your setup in fact properly supports balanced line operation, the length and quality of the cables will have little bearing on the sound. The balanced line system was in fact created for eliminating interconnect cable problems and differences, as every audiophile can (knowingly or not) attest too: all recordings incorporate their use.