I can think of two situations where balanced outputs would be a good idea: 1) when the amp and pre/pro are located in a noisy electrical environment and 2) when running self-powered speakers where the signal cable could encounter some electrical interference. As I understand it the balanced configuration defeats degradation of the signal in those cases. I imagine most folks don't have either of these situations and standard RCA/coax work just fine. However, I like the balanced outputs/cables just in case #1 above occurs and the XLR connectors on balanced cables are more robust.