Question

Hello all...

Just purchased a pair of Eris E5 XT speakers and absolutely love their dynamic sound output.  Unfortunately, I do not have any audio sources that are balanced so I have to use RCA cables (using audiophile cables).  However, the hum and noise levels are a bit more than I had hoped for regardless of what I've tried.

My question involves this:  "I have some audiophile quality unbalanced male RCA (on one end) to XLR (on the other end) cables.  Is it possible to use the unbalanced XLR part into the Presonus speakers, with the unblanced RCA's being plugged into my audio sources (i.e. DAC)?  Or will the sound suffer with regards to audio quality and/or noise?  Or am I relegated to having to use RCA cables to obtain the best sound signature in my case?

An example of the cables I'm talking about are shown here:

Thanks in advance...

Ben Herrmann

US Marine Corps (Retired)

Fuquay Varina, NC

Answer 1

First and you probably know this already, everything will be unbalanced - just can't fix that.  For the practical part of your question, any time you have well shielded cables it will help clean up the interference that can mess with your sound quality (from power cords, etc.).  My setup is Eris 3.5's and a sub 8.  Out from my laptop via USB to a JDS Labs ATOM DAC+, then from the DAC to the sub 8 using some high quality RCA (DAC side) to 1/4 TRS cables on the sub.  Out from the Sub 8 with 1/4 TRS to the speakers with 1/4 TRS.  So yes, you can use those cables and mix things around.  

I initially used some of the standard cheap cables and didn't like the sound - it did have some noise/hiss in it.  When I used a higher quality cable it cleaned it up.  Now, back to my initial comment.  One unbalance item in your setup makes it all unbalanced.  So I think you are headed in the right direction to focus on the quality of the connections.