Preamps

I’ve paired my Freya with an ARC REF75 amp and it sounded astonishing

+1 for the Shiit Freya, a 3 in 1 Swiss army knife with the best mechanical volume control you can get.
Has to be the bargain ($699) of the decade, embarrasses many $$$$$$K preamps, it’s got what’s needed under the hood that’s why.
Probably not dazzling enough for the "glitz queens" though.

As for the questionable coupling cap statement (above), the Schiit freya uses Wima coupling caps, so do many others. like this 8K euro Acoustics Arts from Germany that got raved about in 6 Moons
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dYJpNC7cRxQ/VI4GXO11ogI/AAAAAAAAwu8/tz9_JDR7cIA/s1600/accustic_arts_monoII...

https://6moons.com/audioreviews2/accusticarts/1.html

Cheers George

Does anyone know why Don Sachs can't add a balanced output on his SP 14?

Why is this such a difficult task?

Another unit to check @ at the top of your price range would be the Levinson No. 523 (the same as No. 526 but without the DAC module); it would also match impedance wise with the 625. 

https://www.marklevinson.com/productdetail/~/product/no523.html

https://www.stereophile.com/content/mark-levinson-no526-preamplifier

the 523 is an awesome unit. i don’t want to denigrate JRDG because he’s a great designer and fine fellow. but in my system the ml 523 was considerably more satisfying to me than the corus BUT the systems were different. my sense however was that the ml was more finely detailed, transparent and very musical. and being a ml unit a true joy to operate and so beautifully built.  the only better ss pre that i’ve personally owned that might exceed the ml is the luxman c-900u but either one would satisfy almost anyone in my humble opinion. 
if you’ve owned a corus i don’t think you’ll be happy with good sound but lousy package. you’re going to want both.

Ayre is certainly not out of business.  I just (a couple of days ago) got my V1 amp back .....I thought I heard a brightness in one channel of my 15 year old amp....  When I got it back, EVERYTHING about the sound was many ways better than the old one.  The price was very reasonable...they replaced many, many parts to the current ones.  I can't say enough good stuff about them.  The man in charge of repairs is Gary.  If you call, he'll call back....or Email him.