Getting the most from the Apogee Mini-Dac

[grawk]

I came across a little harsh. It won't hurt anything to run grados from the XLR outs, it'll just sound like poo

 

[Solan]

... the moo-ooore it goes, tiddeli-pom ...

 

[mriguy2]

Hi Onocentaur.... I can understand your question. I would suggest that for an investment of a few dollars you can find out for yourself. Go down to your local guitar center (maybe even radio shack) and get a pair of XLR (female) to RCA (female) adapters. Plug 'em in and try em out. I think you'll become very happy.

 

[Solan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mriguy2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif The most important thing to know about the Mini-Dac is that the sound quality of its XLR balanced outputs are far (way, way far) superior to its mini-jack 3.5mm outputs (both front & rear). If that's all you have been listening to, then the boat has sailed without you... but you can still get back onboard and here's how... So, if all you have is RCA inputs, here is option one... 1 - You need to get yourself an XLR (female) to RCA (female) cable adapter

This one?
Comprehensive | XLRJ-PJ Female RCA to Female XLR | XLRJ-PJ | B&H

 

[grawk]

That one would work, though you'd obviously need 2

 

[mriguy2]

That's correct.

 

[NYer718]

The sound from my XLR sound inferior to the quarter inch headphone jack.

I've tried two different pairs of cables (one pair of RCA with a pair of xlr adapters and one pair of RCA to XLR cables).

Both times the volume out of the XLR sounds a tab bit lower and intimate than the headphone jack.

I also tried setting the jumpers inside to TRIMM and though that made the sound louder but still not as spacious and wide as the headphone jack, bass seems to be more present.

Switching from the headphone jack to the XLR out sounds like turning off 3D mode

I keep hearing XLR is superior to headphone jacks in this forum but my experience tells me the opposite. Can anyone help me understand what's going on here? I'm not complaining about the headphone jack quality I actually love it but I feel like I'm missing out on excellent XLR sound quality

I should also mention that I have my Mini Dac connected to a Bottlehead Mainline and it only has RCA inputs