Female XLR to RCA?

While you can do it and the sound quality difference may be not be obvious I would not unless this is an intermediary step to get to a fully balanced system.

High sound quality sound is the sum of every optimal design, component, sub component, interconnect choice… etc. if sound quality is top of you mind, then I would not start by buying into two compromises… connecting a balanced preamp to a non balanced amp and converting balanced to unbalanced connections. While the penalty may be small… they are not optimal.

I would buy components that are completely physically compatible. Preferably that you have auditioned.

It’s a waste of time ,you throw away the advantages of being balanced 

to ultimately lowers the noise floor.

@ghdprentice thanks So I can cross that off my list.. 

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.

Bent