Go with the BAT Preamp. I have a VK50-SE that I acquired last Summer. I love it ! I too prefer a Fully (and truly) Balanced Audio chain that a Single ended one. With XLR, you can hot swap cables without worrying about blowing things up. With RCA, you can’t by design.
I'm also not a fan of point to point wired Amps/Preamps. PCB's are the only way and I've been Troubleshooting them for over 25 years. Much easier to repair than point to point (even if a trace gets burnt now and then).