Unbalanced Outboard Gear to HD I/O 16x16

[MarkH]

I have a question about running my Unbalanced outboard gear (analog synths, drum machines) to the HD I/O 16x16 analog DB25 inputs.

I will use Unbalanced cables connected from the gear. As some may already have experienced, using Balanced cables on Unbalanced outputs causes a gain reduction. The only thing I plan to put between the Unbalanced gear/cables and the HD 16x16 is a 48 point patch bay.

Most 1/4" 48-point patch bays are TRS (Balanced). I'm guessing since the cables connecting to the patch bay from the outboard gear is unbalanced, it is not an issue to have a TRS patch bay? For the cables connecting from the patch bay to the HD I/O, I cannot find a DB25 snake that is Unbalanced 1/4" to DB25. It seems like I would need to use a DB25-TRS snake from the HD I/O to the patch bay. I'm trying to figure out if there will be gain issues.

Any suggestions are appreciated.