Recommnedations for moderately price balanced IC's, and adaptors to an RCA end

Thanks to all who have responded.  I need to consult Victor K. at BAT to ask him about the XLR to RCA type cable, and probably reconfirm the use of the Rogue variable pre-out with a fully balanced amp.  BTW, Mogami makes such a cable, and also a XLR to XLR cable, both sell for approx between $40-50.recommeded by one of the above members. I Have not checked out the Signal Cables recommended by another.

To Almarg and Hasmarto:  The Mogami cable XLR(female) to  RCA (male connectors) are all of one cable, not an "ADAPTOR" ADD ON to a XLR to XLR cable.  The drawback according to Mogami is that you lose the benefit of reduced noise offered by XLR to XLR which somewhat defeats part of the purpose of using a fully balanced amp.

I understand, Hasmarto's claim that the Rogue Sphinx is not in the same league as the BAT VK-200. As noted the new Rogue RP-1 uses only RCA inputs and outputs, but the pre-amp should be superior to the pre-amp of the Sphinx v.1 or the  upgraded Sphinx v.2. 

 Lastly, I have no intentions of keeping the Sphinx v.1. but also looking for pre-amp with possible both XLR and RCA connectors. I have a Ayre CX-7e mp CD player which is outstanding and has an XLR outputs which an a fully balanced cable should improve its performance

So as it stands, I just need to find  a pre-amp with at least 3 XLR connectors: two obviously for the amp, and one for Ayre CD player. It would be nice to find such a unit with a remote control, and the bonus of of a good quality phono stage. I am not interested in a built in DAC, or HT processor or loops.

AL, thank for the tip about the Neutrik adapter:  Also the headsup about ARC pre-amps not working with a XLR to RCA cables; I saw an ad on AG for a brand new ARC LS-17SE, but it has NO phono stage, (not sure about the remote)  I am also concerned about your comment about a possible reduction of 6 db in volume using an XLR to RCA cable.  I will have to e-mail Victor K. at BAT to get his thoughts on this issue.  Thanks again to all responders!!  Jim     

To Almarg and Hasmarto: The Mogami cable XLR(female) to RCA (male connectors) are all of one cable, not an "ADAPTOR" ADD ON to a XLR to XLR cable.

So as it stands, I just need to find a pre-amp with at least 3 XLR connectors: two obviously for the amp, and one for Ayre CD player.

AL, thank for the tip about the Neutrik adapter: Also the headsup about ARC pre-amps not working with a XLR to RCA cables; I saw an ad on AG for a brand new ARC LS-17SE, but it has NO phono stage, (not sure about the remote)

I am also concerned about your comment about a possible reduction of 6 db in volume using an XLR to RCA cable.

Check out JW Audio.

I found out about them here on an audiogon forum.

The prices are more than reasonable and they come with a 30 day money back guarantee. 

The quality is really great compared to some of the high priced interconnects and cables I auditioned.

Everybody should try out their stuff.

Just upgraded from a Lyra Kleos to an Atlas and the speaker cables which are so inexpensive do full justice to this jewel of a cartridge.

Al, Thank you for the corrections. I am sorry I misstated  your previous comments. As you can see despite being involved in audio for 40 years, I am ignorant of this XLR technology

Let me clarify. a few mistaken points I mentioned before either on this thread or previous one  I spoke to Mark O"Brien  at Rogue Audio today.  He informed me that "Line 3" of the Sphinx integrated is an input, not an output. There is an area on the back of the Rogue Sphinx sectioned off that has a variable and fixed output  The "variable" output is the one he recommended for hooking up the BAT VK-200 amp,  So you have out of the pre-amp stage into the BAT amp, and the signal travels through the speaker wires to the speaker.  OK. 

I also mentioned to Mark what you noted about losing signal strength up to approx 50 %, and Mogami 's claim that using an XLR to RCA connector will not reduce the noise produced by an RCA to RCA IC.  It will stay the same.  Mark is not a fan of XLR ICs. More or unless claiming they will produce only some reduction of noise. He also noted that a fully balanced pre-amp will cost a lot of money. A member however claims there is a BAT 31SE for sale on AG for $1000.  (Hare to believe, unless it is an "as is" piece).

I don't really  do not need a fully balanced pre-amp  According to you, just  I will need two cable XLR outputs for the BAT amp, and two XLR output cables from the Ayre CD player to the  XLR inputs on the pre-amp.  I hope I got this correct this time

BTW, I believe on another thread, I was asking about the variable output. and you consulted the Sphinx manual.  I responded to both you  and  think "Mensch",  but my response was lost in Audiogon cyberspace.

In this lost e-mail, I mentioned that I had called Rogue, and was told by one of the techs  that variable( pre-out) output runs through an "op-amp", and not the "tubed" section of the Sphinx pre-amp stage. He also noted the sound may not be quite as good, with a minimal loss of sound quality. O'Brien more or less confirmed the same fact to me in today's conversation  I mentioned in my e-mail that unless I am wrong the so-called pre-out  was not a true or standard pre-out like the one in the Creek 5350SE Classic which I owned about 7 years ago, using it with a pair of Red Dragon M-500 Class D mono block amps. 

However, I don't know if  op-amps are a standard design component for pre-amp outs on integrated amps in which you can separate the amp from the pre-amp stage.  O'Brien claims that using variable pre-out on the Sphinx will still allow control of volume and other features on the integrated amp

BTW, I mentioned  before that about one year ago, I changed out the two standard tubes in the Sphinx to Mullards 4003CV tubes. This was recommended by a member who claimed it cut "much" of the glare, and brightness from the sound which was an artifact of the Hypex spinoff of class D amplification. It did work as billed by the member.  

NOTE:  the Sphinx v.1 manual is poor. There is no photos or line drawings of the back of the amp. They can do better!

I think I am somewhat back to Square One because one of benefits of XLR to XLR interconnects was the reduction of noise.  I did buy the BAT VK-200 amp The deal was too good to turn down.  Thanks again for all you advice and comments....... Jim