I AM FULLY AWAKE NOW! (Inside joke) ;)
This is actually a very good/pertinent question, one which is not nearly as simply answered as one might think. You do not want to do the conversion between RCA/XLR in a cable; you will lose tons of information/sound quality. Even with a good quality RCA/XLR converter you will lose substantially, imo more than if you simply went with the RCA connections. A converter cable/adapter would be my last recommendation.
Do not over-worry about simply going with an RCA interconnect. True, an XLR connection in a situation where all things are otherwise equal would be preferable. I have experienced slight to somewhat significant improvements with XLR over RCA of the same model cables on rigs $30-40K and up.
However, the quality of the interconnect cable itself varies brand to brand far more than many people would expect. Continuously I compare RCA to XLR of differening brands and consistently the superior design of the cable trumps the termination; that is, a better designed cable of an RCA will outperform an XLR of a different brand. Going with a balanced (XLR) cable is no guarantee of the best sound from your component despite the balanced design of the preamp with XLR inputs. You very well may have gotten better sound from a different brand of interconnect with RCA termination. It is also possible that you could switch to a DAC with XLR connections and get much poorer sound.
Thus, unless you actually conducted comparisions between more than one brand of cables - and included an alternative DAC - with RCA/XLR terminations you would not know the outcome of your query, "...switch DAC or cables". I concur with the decision for the time being to go with RCA connections on both ends, the Minimax and the Ayre. I would not throw in the towel immediately if it is less than spectacular; try no less than three or four different interconnects. If you are using a mix of different brands of interconnects try them in different locations in the system; you should hear changes to the sound as you do so. The power cords and digital cable will also play a huge part in the overall sound. This may be more than you wanted in terms of work to achieve your sound, but the effort in the end has the potential to surpass your expectations.
Though I have applied these principles to the components in this particular discussion in my experience they hold true for (virtually) all systems.
I would not recommend switching to a DAC with only 24 bit processing assuming that because it has XLR outs it will be superior to the Minimax's RCA outs!
This is actually a very good/pertinent question, one which is not nearly as simply answered as one might think. You do not want to do the conversion between RCA/XLR in a cable; you will lose tons of information/sound quality. Even with a good quality RCA/XLR converter you will lose substantially, imo more than if you simply went with the RCA connections. A converter cable/adapter would be my last recommendation.
Do not over-worry about simply going with an RCA interconnect. True, an XLR connection in a situation where all things are otherwise equal would be preferable. I have experienced slight to somewhat significant improvements with XLR over RCA of the same model cables on rigs $30-40K and up.
However, the quality of the interconnect cable itself varies brand to brand far more than many people would expect. Continuously I compare RCA to XLR of differening brands and consistently the superior design of the cable trumps the termination; that is, a better designed cable of an RCA will outperform an XLR of a different brand. Going with a balanced (XLR) cable is no guarantee of the best sound from your component despite the balanced design of the preamp with XLR inputs. You very well may have gotten better sound from a different brand of interconnect with RCA termination. It is also possible that you could switch to a DAC with XLR connections and get much poorer sound.
Thus, unless you actually conducted comparisions between more than one brand of cables - and included an alternative DAC - with RCA/XLR terminations you would not know the outcome of your query, "...switch DAC or cables". I concur with the decision for the time being to go with RCA connections on both ends, the Minimax and the Ayre. I would not throw in the towel immediately if it is less than spectacular; try no less than three or four different interconnects. If you are using a mix of different brands of interconnects try them in different locations in the system; you should hear changes to the sound as you do so. The power cords and digital cable will also play a huge part in the overall sound. This may be more than you wanted in terms of work to achieve your sound, but the effort in the end has the potential to surpass your expectations.
Though I have applied these principles to the components in this particular discussion in my experience they hold true for (virtually) all systems.
I would not recommend switching to a DAC with only 24 bit processing assuming that because it has XLR outs it will be superior to the Minimax's RCA outs!
