Truly Balanced Cheaper Preamplifiers?

Therefore, expensive cables aren’ts as important also.

Oh how I wish this were true!

Schiit Freya + is your best bet. I run it’s balanced outputs to the balanced inputs of my amp. Everything Else in the system is single ended and it converts them to fully balanced. Before running balanced I ran all single ended with hi-end cabling and the system sounds better fully balanced. Please note that my Freya+ took over 200 hours of burn-in before sounding its best.

I would need to know whether the amplifier is tube or solid state but i can tell you that buying a cheap preamplifier is never a good idea in either case you should look for a high quality vintage balanced preamplifier to cut down on the cost.

@jafox+1 .


I argue this with ignorant people on a regular basis. I can even hear the difference between 0.5 an 1.0 XLRs of the same mfg

If you want tube, the Freya is likely the absolute best for the budget.  It can sound really excellent with some choice tubes.

For solid state, there was a suggestion for Gustard P26.  I think that would be the way to go.  On the P26, you can actually upgrade one op amp in each channel (since it's a socketed op amp).  Put in a Burson Vivid V6 or a Sonic Imagery and you have a discrete Class A analog stage!