hmm, my Knowledge about Maya is Zero. :P here you have an example, you can straighten the normals with PS or any good image editing tool. http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=50516
If your end result is to display the mesh in Maya, or to export to an engine that is sync'd up to Maya's tangient basis, then yes, Maya will always be the best place to bake. No exceptions, Xnormal/Max/Blender/Etc will never be better. Maya bakes near perfect normals when viewed in Maya's viewport or an engine synced with…