Balanced vs RCA preamps

Back to the Spatial Audio Lab Raven tube Preamp it is fully balanced and dead quiet. If you don’t need a lot of output power their suite (mono’s & pre) punch far above their cost. Like wow….Ahyho… 

Years ago I was yacking with Mr. Internet, Kevin Deal (he does know his stuff) and he said on the RCA/XLR question that component build quality is what matters. 

Recently I swapped in/out RCA/XLR cables from source to pre and from pre to monos. My data set of one could hear no difference. As for my build quality, that’s another matter. Lifetime guarantee? Who’s lifetime?

To drop noise floor, I prefer balanced.

For checking out tube amps including flea watt which usually have a higher noise floor, I’m indifferent.  I’m mostly concerned with the sonic profile offered by tube amplification 

I think people who like balanced enjoy plugging in the cables more than RCA. They look really cool.

@emergingsoul , ever since I was in preschool I have been fascinated by balanced circuits and the effect that they had on my audio gear; therefore at recess I would always sneak out to the nearby audio store to check out how much better the truly balanced circuits sounded than the single ended.

The short answer to your question is, it is not a good idea to base your decision on which preamp to buy solely on the basis of balanced outputs.  First of all, they do not exist for tube equipment, maybe there is a hybrid out there I am not aware of, but for all practical purposes anything with XLR connections is going to be solid state.

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@billstevenson , the Cary SLP05 is a tube preamp that features a truly balanced circuit, and I am sure that there are plenty of others.

Just because you have balanced input and out puts does not mean the unit is full balanced! A very large part of the pre amp market is not fully balanced. Even though they have the connections.