No preamp 'Balance' control?

Yes a lot of preamps are made without balance controls.Less
parts,less noise.A volume or balance potentiometer can ad
noise,distortion,and may need other parts in the signal path
that might degrade the signal.It may be a purist thing,but
the no-balance control idea has been around for years.If you
need a balance control,use a preamp with one.The no-balance
preamps is not a guarantee that it is going to sound better
than the ones with a balance control.

Most of mine don't have one, at least one does. I had a preamp until this spring that had a volume control for each channel, it was a pain. I can't remember the last time I actually used a balance control. Certainly not since the 80s.

adding the balance control adds another device between you and the music, preamps are that much more transparent without them... My Klyne uses two input "gain" type pots ant then a volume pot, so you raise the gain on each channel so that acts like a balance function. the Klyne series 7 sounds great to me. My Passive unit has just one volume control and is just a bit more transparent and closer to the music than the Klyne, but the Passive's with two volume controls, one for each channel, should solve that balance issue also... The Audible Illusions tube preamps use two volume controls, one for each channel, also to that effect.

Balance control? What's a balance control? I can't remember the last preamp I owned that had a balance control. I agree on the dual volume controls...what a pain.

Yeah, it is a slight compromise, (for convenience sake), to be without one, to be honest. But it is the best way sonically to make a preamp, IMHO. (My Ayre K-1xe preamp does not have one either.) It basically means that those recordings that are slightly off center, (or that you think are slightly off center), have to be listened to in that way regardless. Occasionally I do wish I had one. But, my preamp sounds so good, that when the soundstage and imaging are centered, (which is almost all of the time), I don't even notice that I am lacking a balance control. Of course this means you have to put in a lot of effort to get your room setup to truly present a centered image and soundstage, or else it will bug the heck out of you. (And I will be completely honest, that it took me awhile to get to that point, but now that I am, man am I happy!)

And I agree with those that don't like dual volume controls, (which can act as a sort of balance control), as they are kind of a pain in the butt. (And, I have found that most of those preamps with dual volume controls don't have a remote because having dual volume controls, while the best way to put in a volume control, usually prohibits the use of a remote control, which means either constantly getting up to fiddle with the volume control until you get it perfectly balanced, or just living with it being very close to perfect. (Which is pretty much like living without a balance control in the first place.)

One of the only true dual volume control preamps with a remote, (that controls the volume), that I know of, is my Ayre K-1xe. And, admittedly, the control mechanism for said remote's volume control is a true Rube Goldberg device. (An amazing piece of machinery, but very complex, due to its use of dual stepper motors, and hence why it was only used in two preamps, the top of the line Ayre K-1xe and the now out of production Ayre K-3xe. And one of the reasons for the K-3xe being out of production is that it was very expensive to make the volume control, when it was only used in a mid-level preamp.)

As a side note, Charles Hansen, owner and designer of Ayre, gave a couple of the remote control mechanisms to his friend and fellow audio designer, Ken Stevens, (of CAT fame), to use in his preamp, (as Ken never uses remotes due to their sonic impact), and while Ken said they worked great, he also said that he reluctantly decided against using them as they were both too complex and too costly to put into his units.)

So basically, it is one of those "You pay your money, and you take your choice" kind of things.
My two cents worth.