I’m not sure, did I understand Your question completelly, but it seems to me, I have a similar one.
What concerns to a Phone Out - off course this is UNbalanced signal. As every single phone cords is unbalanced.
I’ve found on a CI1 manual there is “TRS phone type, impedance balanced” line output.
But I did my own check (I measured resistance with a balanced jack plugged in to output socket) and it shows me an UNBalanced output.
Does anybody knows for sure - is the CI1 line outputs BALANCED or UNBALANCED signal?