Tube pre-amps: balanced a big deal?


In the market for a low priced ($2,000) tube pre-amp to match up Krell sav 300il and Thiel CS 2.3s, looking at jolida fusion, schitt Freya, dehavilland ultraverve, or similar, wondering how important it is to have balanced (xlr) connections?  When I went to balanced it really opened up the soundstage, what might I lose by moving back to rca?
thosb

Showing 1 response by nitewulf

You won't really lose anything. The soundstage that opened up was due to balanced being 6db louder than single ended, you'd just have to turn the single ended preamp louder to match. We perceive louder as better, always.

Balanced is great for long, long runs, otherwise for typical in home usage you wont notice anything else besides the free 6db gain. 

I had the DeHavilland Ultraverve, it's fantastic.