This is correct. Running balanced has many benefits, not least reducing noise and making the connected system more robust. I have run balanced for many years, from cartridge to power amp.
By the way, I wonder if we should be referring to connectors as 'female' any longer. In today's strange world there are increasing numbers of females who do not have the equipment that is connoted but the use of the term in audio and electronics parlance. |
Sure, you can wire it that way. But note that rca has 2 terminals and that XLR has 3 terminals. XLR/XLR has three wires, rca/rca, has 2 wires. The 3rd wire/terminal, becomes obsolete and is shorted out. Q: are you making your own cable? This wiring method negates the advantages of using XLR. The connections will not be balanced and cannot have as long of a run, <25’. Impedance will be higher as well. In this case, neither has an advantage over the other. Only a balanced terminal at each end, and fully balanced electronics, will give you a balanced circuit. Might as well have rca at each end, it’s probably less expensive cable that will give you the same result. You can look up how to terminate rca to XLR on the Internet. |
Less Hum, Less Buzz Do you have these problems in your home system with short runs? I sincerely doubt it. https://www.audioaffair.co.uk/blog/xlr-vs-rca-interconnects-is-there-a-difference/ I've got xlr/xlr; xlr/rca; rca/rca. There is no sound quality difference here. Some slight volume differences. OUALITY of any cable's innards can make a difference, emphasis 'CAN'. I changed all my RCA/RCA to locking connectors. All my XLR are locking. |
@ michaellent the preamp I’m looking at has three balanced inputs and three RCA unbalanced inputs. I would be using the units’ unbalanced RCA inputs as I have no balanced out puts on any of my sources. Neither would I be wiring these cables myself. It would be a short run. 4 feet max, most likely 3 feet. I would be purchasing them from an audio cable manufacturer. Here’s the link. |
