Many amps today such as the Pass X 600 and 1000, the Nemo's, and many more only have XLR's on them and yet as you have found many great preamps are single ended only.
Here in the showroom with the Pass amps we use the First Sound and Red Rose preamps which are both single ended. We have interconnects custom made with xlr's on one end and
rca's on the other and we also use rca adaptors on the xlr portion of the amps and we have found both to work splendid.
We would not use such a set up on the reference system if it did not sound really spectacular.
I do agree that the key with this set up is how quiet the preamp you use happens to be.
Good luck.
Here in the showroom with the Pass amps we use the First Sound and Red Rose preamps which are both single ended. We have interconnects custom made with xlr's on one end and
rca's on the other and we also use rca adaptors on the xlr portion of the amps and we have found both to work splendid.
We would not use such a set up on the reference system if it did not sound really spectacular.
I do agree that the key with this set up is how quiet the preamp you use happens to be.
Good luck.