Balanced connections use 2 conductors with a common ground. They are generally either 1/4" or XLR. You can use a balanced cable (TRS- tip-ring-sleeve), but that only makes sense if your soundcard has a balanced input, which I doubt. By using a TS connector(tip-sleeve- like a guitar cable), you are "unbalancing" the connection, which is really OK. There is a slight loss of gain, about 3db, and you'll get increased noise in long runs of cable, over 15 feet. For your purposes, an unbalanced connection should work fine.-Richie
