Question, which I believe it was addressed slightly. Are TRS connection / plugs (like form a mixer or pre-amp) balanced?
aren't those the optical ones that look like rca? so they are digital? or am thinking of something else entirely
if they are those ones I guess technically not since its a single reference ground, but as long as it has a tolerance of 49% (or ~33% to avoid a floating range) it would be able to tell whats a 1 or 0 so it doesn't matter
in a perfect world any load device could just have any converters and amps built in and we just transfer all data over wifi instead of a cable, anyone who tells you there is signal interference is pretty much not telling the truth since its not like our devices constantly get sent incorrect bits over wifi since that would cause them to crash or make errors all the time
only problem is then you can't (easily) reuse the same hardware, and it would add weight to the devices. but theoretically there will one day be a perfect headphone so you will only need to buy something once, and the fully integrated components and circuitry could theoretically less dense than air.
Going further people would just have direct digital to neuron converters in the heads and I highly doubt there will be people claiming it sounds better when they plug into a wall with their \|7 2200000 [Gen 8 quantum currency] AudioQuest III synthetic carbon-plasma cables (carbon shielding at absolute 0, wiring at 3000 C, achieved with differential energy technology to block out noise) inspired by human mythology
if you see one of the guys just use scissors on his cable