The XLR connectors are special in the fact that they transport the signal on two wires (voltage inverted between the two, relative to ground). More special is the circuitry supporting balanced signal. Supporting outs and ins on devices that support XLR (or balanced in general) have circuitry to create the inverted signal and respectively put it back in, while eliminating the extras as line noise. The technique and circuitry help eliminating noise from long environments where interferences could be a problem, sometimes due to either long signal routes or with a complex wiring. The main idea is that if the signal was unaltered (by noise) at the end of the transmission, adding the signal from both signal pins should result in zero, and what’s not zero is exactly the noise that will be subtracted. In [most] home setups, this is not necessary. I use balanced connections for mixing in my small home studio, but even that’s overdoing it (relative to my setup and needs).
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