Hi @nasaman, I was doing some search on the forum and came across your thread. I know this is a pretty old thread, but I’m curious if you did get a chance to try the Cardas XLR to RCA adapters? and if so, how do they compare to the $7 generic ones from amazon or eBay?
I happened to have a pair of spare Kimber Select XLR cables. I didn’t want to waste a pair of expensive cables to let it sit around doing nothing, so I decide to swap them into my phono preamp -> line stage preamp connection. I was using a pair of Kimber Hero RCA for that. So I decided to try 2 pairs of the cheap $7 adapters from amazon to convert the Kimber Select to RCA.
I couldn’t believe how much better is the new sound. All of a sudden I feel my vinyl setup is finally sounding like analog. It seems warmer and more 3D-ish. It was the best $15 I ever spent on my system. So I’m now curious if I should give those $200 a pair Cardas adapters a try. I would need 2 paris, so it would be $400.
Another option I’m also considering is to buy a new pair of Kimber Select with RCA connectors, but it’s definitely a lot more expensive. $1400 vs $400. I also wonder if the RCA cable would sound any better than the XLR with adapters, assuming you are using the best adapters.
Anyway, if anyone have done similar comparisons, please chime in. Your opinion will very much be appreciated.
Thanks!