Why doesn't Musical Fidelity offer balanced output

Edge doesn't offer balanced either, Tom Maker feels they compromise the sound quality...

I've read in the past that Antony doesn't think that the do anything to improve the sound quality, as do a number of other equipment manufacturers. Far be it from me to dispute the opinion of someone who should know better than me. I also wouldn't be interested in the added cost.

One other note here: XLR outputs do not necessarily imply the product is truly balanced.

It's partly a cultural thing I think. Not much British gear is balanced. It may be to do with us Brits using short interconnects and long speaker cables. I think you colonials tend to use much longer interconnects, where true balanced is of more value. Speaking to UK manufactures, as I have at shows, they seem pretty dismissive of the benefits of balanced connections. It does also give real manufacturing cost savings of course. Most of my interconnects are 1mt. I have never been in a position to use balanced connections.