How are you measuring the signals?
If you are using the ground (sleeve or pin1) as a reference that may not be a valid method.
In balanced audio, the ground doesn't carry any signal or have any reference to 'hot' or 'cold', it just provides a drain for the shielding.
"An ideal balanced audio receiver is a differential amplifier. It works by measuring the difference between its two inputs, and calling that difference the signal. "Ground" is totally irrelevant."
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/q … dio-signal
The 'hot' and 'cold' should be identical, just inverted with respect to one another, that's the important measurement.