Well, I guess either I misunderstood your post or I need you to explain your reasoning.

I spent many years designing and providing technical support and service for industrial / robotic control systems, and while the signals used are most decidedly NOT musical they are subject to the same laws of physics as the rest of the world. In this environment the level of electrical noise is orders of magnitude higher than experienced in a typical home.

The sole reason for ensuring the shield is only connected at one end that I'm aware of is to prevent current flow due to minute variations in ground plane potential between equipment. Other than that, ohms law implies that more connections or lower resistance to ground would be better. Or what did I miss?

Also, we had to use balanced signals as much as possible to prevent data loss or signal degradation, something that is not an option with most consumer gear.

CMNR can occur to some degree on a non-balanced system, but as I'm sure you're aware, a true balanced and shielded connection is much better.

Charlie