Yes, as posted above,
XLR is balanced meaning there is a non-inverted signal, and an inverted signal, when it hits your
mixer, recorder,
etc it amplifies the differences in the signal and eliminates the things that are the same(noise picked up from the cable will be the same in both lines), this allows
xlr to be used over hundreds of feet, while 1/4" cables will start having problems after 25' or so. That is why DI boxes are used to convert 1/4 to
xlr. Also pretty much all professional consoles only have
XLR inputs.
Seems to be some common misunderstandings.
XLR and 1/4" are simply connectors and both can be used for either balanced or unbalanced signals. A 3 pin
XLR and
TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) 1/4" are essentially interchangeable in terms of the signals carried, including carrying balanced signals, however XLRs are often preferred for reasons such as the contact area, being non-shorting, making the
ground contact first and more typically being locking or latching. A TS (tip-sleeve) 1/4" is inherently limited to unbalanced signals but a
TRS 1/4" or 3 pin
XLR connector could be wired for balanced
mono, unbalanced stereo or unbalanced
mono signals.
Signal symmetry is a separate issue from balanced audio signals and you can have balanced signals with only one signal on the +
conductor and without any corresponding inverted signal on the -
conductor. A simple way to think about this is if that balancing and the associated noise cancellation depended on signal symmetry then you would get no noise cancellation with no signal, which is exactly when you might need it the most. Instead 'balanced' for audio signals usually refers to being
impedance balanced with both conductors having equal
impedance to
ground. That, along with the use of twisted pair conductors, helps any noise induced in the conductors be equal in both conductors and thus be more effectively cancelled by a differential input, which looks at the difference between the signals on the two conductors and thus 'cancels' any signal common to both regardless of whether an audio signal is present. The more similar you can make any noise induced in each
conductor via techniques such as
impedance balancing and twisted pairs, the more effective the resulting noise cancellation.
One of the primary purposes of DI boxes is to reduce the signal
level to allow
line level sources to be run over
microphone lines. DI boxes also typically provide some electronic isolation. However, they are not used to convert unbalanced signals to balanced signals of the same
level.
So to the OP, since
XLR and 1/4" are just connectors and there are variations on them, e.g. unbalanced
mono TS 1/4" versus balanced
mono or unbalanced stereo
TRS 1/4", the
connector alone does not tell you about the cable. A 1/4"
TRS to 1/4"
TRS and
XLR to
XLR cable using the same cable and wiring are essentially comparable and it really comes to which works best for the application. It is fairly common in some installed systems to use
XLR connections for
microphone level signals and 1/4" connections for
line level signals in order to clearly differentiate the two but as far as equipment interconnects there is no significant difference other than preferences in the physical connections.