Pre-amp for $1500?

A Bryston BP25 is also an option. They usually sell for $800-$1200, and have years of warranty coverage remaining.

Yes, Coda has made some fine gear. I believe their key personnel formerly worked for Nelson Pass at Threshold.

I've been very happy with a Classe CP-60 I purchased here not too long ago, well within your price range. It has both balanced xlr and unbalanced interfaces. There is another one available here now, for a bit more. They sold new for a bit under $4K about 11 years ago.

Also, used Klyne preamps show up now and then, and are very high quality, but I don't recall if they offered balanced i/o.

A key consideration, of course, is whether or not you want an internal phono stage. It was an option on my CP-60, but most of the ones I've seen for sale (including the one I purchased) don't have one.

coda,i'm more thenhappy with mine,take a look if you dont mind at the one on sale here for i think 1250 or whatever it is,i really dont see how you could go wrong,it looks good and a within what you want to spend.If i remember some mods were done to it and it had codas approval,so it wasnt some garage job.