The case for a single five-channel run
One run, one set of connectors, one controller, one supply. That matters in a slim detail: a handrail, a shelf reveal, a narrow cove, anywhere there is no room for a second board. It also keeps color and white registered, so moving from a warm white scene to a color scene does not shift where the light comes from.
One suitable option for color plus tunable white in a single narrow run is the EnoLED 24V UniColor RGB+CCT COB strip (verify the published white range, channel layout, watts per foot and tape width). The RGB and tunable white collection groups the combined products.
When the white has to carry the room
The moment white stops being decorative, the calculation changes. A run lighting a work surface or a display needs a specific output and rendering level from its white, and on a combined product the white is whatever that product publishes. Where those figures fall short of the task, the decision is already made.
Two strips also let the layers differ. White can run the full length while color covers only the section that shows, each on its own zone, and a change to one layer leaves the other alone. For a white layer that has to carry a room, a dedicated tunable white run such as the EnoLED 24V CCTPlus series is worth weighing against the combined option (verify its published white range, lumens per foot and CRI).
Channel count on the controller settles RGB plus CCT or two separate strips
The channel count on the controller has to match the strip. A unit built for four channels cannot drive a five-channel strip, and no wiring trick changes that. Compatibility across strip, controller, driver, remote and any wall device is something to confirm on each product page before buying, including the current each channel draws against the controller's rated current per channel.
Two separate strips need two control paths, or one controller with enough outputs and zones for both. The EnoSync Hub5 lists support for several modes, RGB plus CCT and CCT among them (verify the supported modes, channel count and current per channel). Keep low voltage control and phase-cut wall dimming as separate methods unless the system documentation allows them together.
A two-strip build means two of everything downstream
Each run needs its voltage matched the whole way: a 24V strip on a 24V supply with 24V control gear, a 12V strip on 12V throughout, never one crossed with the other. Size the supply against both runs at once: multiply published watts per foot by installed length for each strip, add them together, put current headroom on top, currently at least 20 percent (verify that guidance), and confirm the supply's rated output clears the total. Both runs branch from the supply in parallel rather than being chained one behind the other.
There is more wire, too. A combined strip carries five channels plus a common along one run, while two strips carry three plus a common and two plus a common on separate paths, all concealed in the same detail. Where the supply is hardwired, or a wall box is involved, that part goes to a licensed electrician working to the NEC, local code and the manufacturer instructions, with the circuit off before any cover comes off.
