Not only that it s possible that connecting a balanced output to an unbalanced input might be detrimental to the signal depending on the design of the balanced output stage.
Unbalanced output to balanced input cable.
Apparently this will convert whilst also maintaining the balancing of the xlr cable which i don t believe the other answers would and so help to reduce noise.
In both cases one jack is normally used for each audio channel left and right.
The impedance balancing means that the balanced interference rejection on that circuit is retained.
Connecting mains powered unbalanced outputs to balanced inputs.
At the unbalanced output connect the screen wire to the input ground pin together with the cold wire.
In most cases the negative output of a balanced output can be connected to ground but in some cases it should be left disconnected.
A high quality isolator using an input transformer with an internal faraday shield increases rejection to almost 100 db at 60 hz and about 65 db at 3 khz.
Quarter inch ts tip sleeve cables are generally used for unbalanced signals.
This produces an unbalanced output that can be used to feed an unbalanced input via either a ts or trs plug.
It can also be used to feed a balanced cable and input via a trs plug.
The diagram above shows how the cable works.
In many cases you can reverse the process when feeding a balanced output signal to an unbalanced input.
I ve read online that the best way to convert balanced xlr to unbalanced 1 4 mono is to buy a cheap passive di box and run it backwards xlr as input 1 4 ts as output.
You can with some caveats.
Unbalanced line level connections are usually implemented with rca jacks for audio while balanced line level connections typically utilize dual 3 pin xlr jacks for both the input and output.
The structure of a balanced audio cable is similar to an unbalanced cable with one addition.
However with this method there are cases in which the user could experience high levels of unwanted distortion and in the extreme cases the output device could be damaged by plugging in a standard unbalanced cable.
These are most commonly used with electric guitars which often output to an amplifier.
In many cases interconnecting a balanced output to an unbalanced input will work just fine your signal will be unbalanced.
At the balanced input do not connect the screen wire to anything.
For the best possible noise rejection use a 3 conductor cable wired as in figure 2 from the unbalanced output to the isolator input.