Is there an affordable long run XLR preamp to amp cable out there?

I don't understand the concern about pin 2 or pin 3 hot when it comes to cables. In either case, pin 1 is signal ground, and if a cable is wired straight-through (pin 2 to 2 and 3 to 3), it will work fine with either system.

Pin 1 is not supposed to be signal ground!! In a balanced system ground is ignored. The reason for this is to prevent ground loops. Pin 2 should be seen with respect to pin 3 and vice versa. 


Many 'high end audio' products do use pin 1 as signal ground (which is a 'no-no')- this makes the cable more susceptible to producing audible artifacts. This means that you have to find the right cable to make the system sound right, and the balanced line system had that problem eliminated 60 years ago...

Atma-Sphere and BAT opinions are of little value unless you use their equipment.

That is not entirely true. Some high end cable manufacturers obtain Mogami wire and re-brand it. The wire is oxygen free and the dielectrics are polyethylene; pretty nice stuff. Overall its pretty inexpensive and thus totally worth a try. FWIW, Neutrik connectors are excellent; some of the best made.

Now the whole point of balanced operation is that the cable shouldn't be a big deal in the overall sound- its a system meant to eliminate interconnect cable artifact (in addition to ground loops). You'd think an audiophile would like that sort of thing- after all, it worked pretty well for all those recordings that people play on audio equipment :)   And some of those microphone signals had to go a long way!

So it is advantageous if the equipment supports the balanced standard. To my knowledge, this is a rare thing in high end audio so we have all these exotic balanced cables as a result. As far as I can tell the BAT stuff doesn't support the standard.