Need advice replacing my preamp

You might want to look at the preamp the PS Audio was based on, the Aesthetix Calypso which has balanced and single ended inputs and outputs. Also I have heard good things about the Wells Commander which appears to have 1 XLR input and output. The description says these are unbalanced though.

One other thing, what interconnects are you using? Are they shielded? You might want to try different ones and see if you still have the problem. I would also recommend that you talk to Dan Wright as he may have suggestions. Good Luck!

FWIW most high end audio preamps, even though actually balanced, don't support the balanced standard, known as AES48. AES48 prevents ground loops from making buzz, and prevents interconnect cables from having artifact (if you've ever heard differences between two cables that's what I'm talking about). This also means you can run the interconnect cables longer distances without a downside, and the cables don't have to be expensive to sound as good as the most expensive cables out there. Imagine spending the money for a balanced preamp and then finding out that its sensitive to long interconnect cables! That really shouldn't happen.


I run 30 feet of interconnect cable between my amps and preamp and it probably cost about $300 or so for the pair. So balanced operation is a nice benefit on this account alone.


If the preamp has a pair of coupling capacitors at the output, it doesn't support the standard. This is because the kind of circuitry that needs a coupling capacitor isn't able to tick the boxes (in a nutshell, its relying on a ground connection to complete the circuit, and balanced operation ignores ground entirely). The preamp will have either an output transformer for driving the balanced line, or it will have a direct-coupled output.

@Joey54 I am using Transparent Audio cables 20ft long. I just purchased some XLR cables (mogami wire and nuetrik connectors) I am told by a Pro Audio company that XLR by their nature of construction are better at noise rejection than single ended RCA. I am waiting on a XLR to RCA adapter. I am told it may help. I did speak with Dan and he agreed to start there.

@Atmasphere thank you for the explanation. I agree with you. Lets see how the cables work. BTW if I connect the output of my DAC it is quiet. I get the noise with out even turning the preamp on!

Ralph knows his stuff, BUT, 'my' personal experience running 100% true differentially balanced systems is that "I" have heard the difference between 0.5M XLRs and 1.0M XLRs from the SAME company: Eichmann Express Copper. Now that was ~ 10 years ago but I never tried it with other XLR cables

Hopefully R will chime in