In 2010 or 11 Bruno Putzeys posted how proud he was of the quality of the differential input on his NC400 amp. Bruno sternly cautioned builders to never install an RCA input for unbalanced sources, instead preferring:
Unbalanced source RCA output > RCA to XLR adapter at the source > balanced IC > NC400 XLR input. He said such application approached the performance of a balanced source.
I "tried it both ways" as Deputy Barney Fife would say and IMO Bruno gave good advice (shocked, not.)
If using a simple XLR to RCA adapter, is this the best method to connect a balanced source > unbalanced load?
Balanced source XLR output > balanced XLR IC > XLR to RCA adapter at the load > unbalanced load. Does this approach the performance of a balanced load?
Unbalanced source RCA output > RCA to XLR adapter at the source > balanced IC > NC400 XLR input. He said such application approached the performance of a balanced source.
I "tried it both ways" as Deputy Barney Fife would say and IMO Bruno gave good advice (shocked, not.)
If using a simple XLR to RCA adapter, is this the best method to connect a balanced source > unbalanced load?
Balanced source XLR output > balanced XLR IC > XLR to RCA adapter at the load > unbalanced load. Does this approach the performance of a balanced load?
It is very important to understand what is before XLR connector, and what is after RCA in particular case. Even in general it is not best to mix these worlds. This article explains a lot about it : https://www.diyaudio.com/community/attachments/grounding-pdf.1333311/