SS or Tube Preamps with Dual-Balanced outputs

"great imaging and other desirable sonic attributes?"

Zephir, that's an impressive list that you have put together. What makes things so deliciously complicated is that "one man's guerrilla is another man's freedom fighter". . . or in our terms, what is one audiophile's desirable attribute is likely to be someone else's sonic flaw. Very much like DCSTEP, I am extremely fond of the JRDG Capri and Criterions for their extension, top to bottom linearity, and harmonic exposure. On the other hand, a high degree of musical linearity is not necessarily of everyone's taste. Some may very well prefer the slightly warmer sound of an ARC Ref 3 for example, or the much warmer presentation of a BAT VK51SE, just to make a couple of examples. G.

Looks like my Capri has only 1 single pair of XLR balanced outputs. Manual seems to confirm only 1 pair of balanced outputs. Strike Capri for this application. Criterion won't have these limitations. . . at a uhrn. . . charmingly different price point.

G

Every post is the same Bill.

nag this and Nag that.

Over and over and over.

Take a breath.

(smiles!) Guido

Ah well. . . you've got to admit that. . . it was "A Valiant Attempt" . . . to say it with the old game of Zork! G.

Here's some correction for Esoteric and JRDG:

** Esoteric C03 PreAmp (new)(1 xlr output)
** Jeff Rowland Capri 1 Bal-XLR, 1 Unb-RCA std)
** Jeff Rowland Concerto (std)
** Jeff Rowland Criterion (std) 2 Bal XLR

Rowland components have been differentially balanced since at least early nineties. So much so that the TI Burr Brown OPA1632 module used in Capri and Criterion is a differentially balanced OP Amp. G.

Jeff Rowland Pre info as follows:

** Criterion:
Main out: 2 pair Balanced (XLR), 2 pair Unbalanced (RCA)
Record out: 1 pair Balanced (XLR), 1 pair Unbalanced (RCA)
Note that Price of $12,000 used is hypothetical. . . there have been no used Criterions on the market yet as far as I know, and I'm not selling mine (grins!) .

** Capri:
1 x Pair Balanced Line Level, 1 x Pair Unbalanced Line Level

** Concerto
Outputs....................................................................................................................................2 x Pair Balanced Line Level

G.