Balanced looks like a good compromise between Performance and Quality but Quality does still do several things better.
Just based on the footage in the DF video, I can spot things that Oliver just doesn't pick up on. The RTGI for example looks a bit lower quality in Pro Balanced mode. Look at the difference in shading in the big empty space beneath the two large baskets:
The RTGI on Pro Balanced mode actually looks closer to base PS5 Quality mode in that shot.
It's easy to compare the slam dunk of PS5 Performance vs Pro Performance when it comes to RTGI, but I think they need to do a more thorough comparison of the RTGI between the Quality modes of both consoles.
The shadow maps also look better in Pro Quality mode. It's funny because right when Oliver says "the shadow maps look to be similar in both modes", the images on screen show the opposite lol:
It's a shame the ray-traced reflections have some issues but they do create a more consistent look in the game world to me. Compare at the 5:52 mark:
Even from a flat perspective, ray-traced looks way better, and that's not even mentioning how SSR falls to pieces as soon as the reflection isn't being looked at from head on.
These things all seem like small improvements but I recently played Rise of the Ronin in its quality mode on the Pro and find that small improvements can add up to create a totally different feel that can be worth the framerate hit. I don't think Shadows has the same level of technical incompetence as that game, and Balanced does look perceptually pretty close to Quality here, but it can still mean the difference between a pretty good looking game and a game that looks
very good. It's not even a case of "this setting is a little bit higher so the game looks a bit nicer", it can be a case of the visuals looking close to flawless once the last few distractions are eliminated.