Preamp suggestions for Pass Labs XA100.5

I have those amps. I found them to have great synergy with my CJ tube preamps, specifically their ART and ACT 2,2 tube pres.

You mentioned you would "like to use balanced"....neither of those CJ's have balanced outs. I have used a true/fully balanced/input to output pre and the CJ's sound better. fwiw, the rca ic's I'm using are 15' long.

I use an Atma-Sphere MP1 with XA60.5 and it works great. Very quiet and dynamic. IMO one of the best preamps available. The phono is very good if your cartridge has a reasonably high output, otherwise you may need a step up transformer to keep noise at an acceptable level. I ended up using a Boulder 1008 phono for my 2 lomc, and the Atma Sphere with my mono cartridge that has around a .9 mv output. Ala in all, highly recommended.
Mark

I've never been too impressed with Pass preamps. I've owned both their amps and preamps, and like the amps much better. I would look at: Ayre, BAT, Aesthetix and maybe Audio Research.

Mark levinson 326s could be considered.