Pretty much the same here. Older equipment with real transformers were never a problem. Then, a couple of years ago, lost the output drive on a cheap mixer. When I did the repair I noticed the balanced line was driven active with little protection. Don't have much audio gear (Maybe about 6k of stuff I use with a choir) so I changed my strategy. All the unbalanced 1/4 inch cables I have are TRS with the ring tied to ground with a 1/8 watt 600 ohm resistor. Balanced inputs see it as a ground tie. Balanced outputs are not in danger of a direct short. So far, it's been a good solution.I've been plugging TS plugs into TRS inputs and outputs for 40 years and never had a problem with it.
As has been pointed out before, the balanced outputs are generally floating and not ground referenced.
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