Looking for phono preamp suggestions

sokogear

... why do you need balanced input and output? Or does if depend on the cartridge?

A phono cartridge produces very low output voltage and is inherently balanced, so there can be advantages to using balanced phono inputs.

After several attempt to find the sound I was looking for I ultimately ended up purchasing an Icon Audio PS3 MKII phono preamp. The sound that this unit generates is nothing short of spectacular. The other bonus is tube rolling to adjust the sound to any finicky ear. All Icon Audio product are built like tanks and perform excellent. David Shaw and group are great folks to work with for any questions or clarification before and after purchase. Just my thoughts…………

Ron Sutherland replied to my query about balanced input saying he’s going to release an upscale version of phono loco with balanced input and balanced output at 16,500 .
that brings it to the same price range as van den hul grail se version and boulder 1108.
tried to contact the boulder dealer and was not very impressed with the interest they showed ( they don’t have any phono stages on demo for me to listen to ). So now inclining towards vdh and now Sutherland.
has anyone compared the vdh and Sutherland. Would love to hear some first hand experience. Thanks 

avid pulsare II (it has xlr i/o)

Glad to hear Ron helped you out Newtoncr. He is a great guy and by the way answers his own phone and is very generous with his time. Totally down to earth, unpretentious and says he isn't an expert on everything, (but I believe he was one of the founders of Martin Logan and in the past has designed and built amps and preamps). Not a big expensive cable fan.

CLeeds - So what are the advantages of balanced inputs or outputs for a phono stage and what does it mean? At what output does it become more beneficial? Are they at the high end of the cost range? My cartridge has an output of .65, which seems kind of high for a MCC and my Sutherland Insight is not balanced (apparently - but the topic never came up), but tremendously improved the sound quality over my previous PS.