As with most things, it depends on the implementation of the particular socket. Perhaps “more potential contact area” would have been a better statement.
I’ve seen XLR sockets built with tiny pins that just poke backwards into the socket and make contact with the tips of the incoming pins. If the contact area there were any smaller, or there was any carbon on the tip, you’d pretty much have a cat’s-whisker.
But I like XLRs better, in practice, too … if only because they’re easier to work with when making cables.
My real preference is dual 3-pin XLRs.
But in the interests of keeping things compact enough to have one connector that works well for desktop and portable units, full-size cans and IEMs, 4.4mm is where things are, slowly, going.