best way to go from balanced XLR - RCA (unbalanced) - anyone...?

+2    use the extra money to buy better RCA's

My vote is also for a good RCA cable as long as you're not going over 2M length. 

I find better sound using XLR balanced. But that’s just me..

But I'm going from DAC XLR to McIntosh preamp to mcintosh amp. All xlr 

There is no advantage to what you are doing.

There is advantage if he uses XLR cable and adapter with Jensen transformer.  It will have superior electrical noise suppression because of balanced signal, but also because wires are twisted (twisted pair).

I can highly recommend using KLE Innovations IC’s - their geometry suppresses/rejects noise, improves dynamics, clarity and image and will literally knock your sock off!

I can recommend the gZero3 for starters, but the gZero20 is by far the best bang for the buck.

Buying their top end cables is simply getting into the area of diminishing returns, which I do not really condone - I’m all about "Value"

I compared the gZero3’s to a solid silver Kimber Kable XLR IC and the gZero3’s sounded better across the board.

The gZero20 is a superb performer and takes the performance of components it connects to a whole new level.

Are their higher end cables better? - yes - but are they worth the additional expense? - this is up to the person doing the listening.

WARNING: they do take some burning in (around 300 hours) to sound their very best and the sound quality does degrade after about 25 hours, but recovers nicely after 40 - 60 hours. It seems to vary a little by component

Here are links to my reviews
http://image99.net/blog/files/category-klei-gzero3-ic.html
http://image99.net/blog/files/category-klei-gzero20-ic.html

Regards...Steve