The first and most obvious difference between balanced and unbalanced audio is that while an unbalanced line, like that RCA cable behind my ... audio connections, the XLR or Cannon plug.

You'll also want to decide whether you want an unbalanced RCA cable (which is the most typical, cost-effective analogue solution and the type pictured above) or the balanced XLR cable (which is ...

For higher performance, professional audio equipment may use balanced XLR connections instead of RCA, or offer both XLR and RCA. See RCA connector and XLR connector. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR ...