Okay to use RCA adapter on a fully balanced amp?


Not a XLR is better or RCA is better question BUT if I have an amp (Digital Amplifier Co) that is fully balanced and only has XLR inputs, if you use a converter and go RCA from a Preamp, are you losing out in quality?

 

Here is something from audioholics and their review of one of their amps - 

"The MEGAschino is a true fully balanced differential amplifier from input to output. It is essentially two  amps for each channel, and one amp per phase. This means it really should be used in a fully balanced system.The manufacturer supplies an XLR to RCA adapter, but these should not be used. If a balanced connection cannot be used, note that the amp cannot be driven to full power from a 2-volt single-ended output, the limit of most receivers."

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@orchardaudio Most preamps can do 5Volts easily as long as the input impedance of the amp isn't an issue! My recommendation is thus to simply try it.

@atmasphere I agree in this scenario, the input impedance on my amps using an RCA to XLR adapter would be 22k.

@orchardaudio that will be tricky for a lot of tube preamps. Our preamps can drive that no worries, but our preamps are balanced so its moot...

OK, so I was totally wrong to doubt the amp’s description - it is indeed truly balanced, albeit with a rather low sensitivity (5 Volts is a lot to ask)! Sorry about that. An RCA-to-XLR adaptor will be a perfect solution, so long as you have enough upstream gain to get where you want in volume. 

@mulveling please note I was specifically talking about my amps, the original post is about amps from a different company and I cannot speak to those.