XLR to RCA adaptor

You are only as good as your weakest link, and the XLR-RCA adapters are all Taiwan/China products.  Have someone like DH Labs custom assemble an affordable (& short) XLR-RCA cable, and you will be much better off.

I'm getting the Zen Triode Integrated MODEL SE34I.5

Decware sells the ZBIT which is an XLR to RCA adapter but as others have pointed out you'd still need a pair of RCA IC's plus the cost of the ZBIT. Maybe selling your XLR cables and buying RCA cables would be best. 

Which amp are you getting? I have the Torii mkIV and I'm quite happy with it. 

Why not contact Decware and see if he can install balanced inputs?
That would seem to be the easiest and least expensive way to go.
Bob

From my experience almost any kind of adaptor is not more than a compromise and as such do severely degrade the sound.

Why not send them back to the manufacturer and get them re terminated as RCA? I use Audioquest Cables and they are more than happy to change the terminations as needed. Cost is about $150 per cable as I recall. If you are handy with a soldering iron you could always do this yourself and try out some sexy RCAs such as the new KLEs 
http://kleinnovations.com

Thanks for the mention, JL35.

Most XLR-to-RCA (and RCA-to-XLR) adapters short the inverted signal on XLR pin 3 to ground (XLR pin 1), although I believe Cardas can supply adapters on special order that leave pin 3 unconnected. Shorting XLR pin 3 to ground is appropriate when adapting RCA outputs to XLR inputs, and may be appropriate when adapting a transformer-coupled XLR output to an RCA input. However, at best it is poor practice when adapting an actively driven XLR output to an RCA input. And while many and perhaps most components would be able to tolerate that, with some designs shorting that signal to ground may result in major performance issues (see this thread, for example), or conceivably even damage, eventually if not sooner.

As Bob suggested the best way of adapting an XLR output to an RCA input is generally with a Jensen transformer, or at a considerably higher price point with an SMc Audio Flex-Connect. However, either of those approaches would become expensive since you would be adapting multiple sources, and you would need to purchase short RCA cables anyway.

Also, using an adapter (as opposed to a transformer) would amount to operating your expensive XLR cables in an unbalanced manner, which would surely compromise the sonic performance they are capable of when connecting balanced outputs to balanced inputs. And IMO would be likely to result in performance that is no better, although perhaps a bit different, than for example the performance of inexpensive Mogami 2534 configured with RCAs.

So it would seem that the best approach in this case is to simply go to RCA cables, one way or another.

Regards,
-- Al

actually, there might be certain conditions that may make that less than ideal, check some old threads for comments by Almarg - this is a topic brought up fairly often. Both my friends and I have used an adapter many times without issue, but only until our new used cables arrived...

I would opt for a Jensen transformer.
They make a number of configurations.
http://www.jensen-transformers.com/product/pi-xx/
You can call or email them for the best info.
Bob

no damage, but might change the sound. you should be able to sell your XLR's for the same price as buying RCA's. XLR cables tend to cost same as RCA and sometimes a little or a lot more for same model...