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RCA to XLR adapters…

I apologize if this has been covered before – I did a couple of searches in the archives, but I didn’t find it. I recently acquired a balanced preamp (Audio Research) and, of course, my CDP (Rotel) is single-ended only. I currently have a pair of typical Chinese-made adapters, which I purchased locally. Since I am at least 10 months away from a CDP upgrade, I am thinking that it would be worthwhile to invest in a pair of better quality adapters. Therefore, I am looking for a pair ‘audiophile’ RCA (female) to XLR (male) adapters.

Thus far, the only ones that I have found are the items on the Cardas website. I was wondering if anyone knew of any other quality adapters that I might consider before making a purchase.

My other option would be to have someone like Signal Cable make me a custom RCA to XLR cable. Naturally, such a cable would have little resale value. In addition, it might be a step backwards when compared to my current Tara Labs RSC Air 3.

What do you think? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
ekistler_sj

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driver's avatar
driver
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Even after you go fully balanced, you can always keep a set of RCA>XLR cables around for those times when you have a source w/only RCA's. I use a set for my tuner.

Since you're using a CDP, I suggest wiring as follows: Pin 1 (ground) to the shell of the RCA and Pin 2 (+) to the center tip. Leave Pin 3 open.

If you have somebody make a cable for you, they should ask what type of application it's going to be used for.

I've had "standard" RCA>XLR cables (both Pins 1 & 3 to RCA ground) which resulted in distortion. Same thing when using adapters.

Not all CDP's will respond like this but mine did, so I made my own cables after finding out about the differences between transformer & digital based pieces, courtesy of Jon Risch.
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