What tube pre amp match up with a solid state amp

I've been using balanced cables in various pro audio situations (and my hifi wherever possible) since the end of the last ice age, and I can say without a doubt there are HUGE differences among these cables. Better mic cables are better. I was recently shocked when an otherwise respected brand of balanced IC completely BLEW GIGANTIC VIRTUAL CHUNKS of treble hash in my hifi, and was quickly returned to the seller...replaced with some inexpensive AQ Diamondbacks that sound fine. Note that another single ended version of the offending (Mogami Neglex...there I said it) cable works fine for my turntable Akito din plug rig, so it has made ammends somewhat.

Atmasphere, I use balanced outs from my DAC to balanced ins on my preamp (Kavent S-33), and it was the balanced out from the preamp to the power amp where the Mogami sounded crappy, and the balanced Diamondbacks sound great. Even the weird (but seemingly decent) "green mystery" balanced cable supplied with the Kavent sounded better than those particular Mogamis (Guitar Center...maybe they were crap?). I was surprised really as Mogamis usually sound fine (like I said, the Akito's Mogami cable sounds great) and I've used 'em as mic cables in pro audio gear for years. Go figure. I might be the only person in audio history to have a bad Mogami experience.

The Kavent S-33 is exactly the same preamp as a Vincent SA 93 for whatever that's worth (I might be able to find out about the outputs somehow). Although I'm not certain if the XLR outs are truly balanced (with one meter ICs it doesn't matter to me anyway, except for the fact that I like XLRs), I am certain the Mogamis sucked, which was my point. Also, hearing differences in balanced cables maybe is "not supposed to happen", but in pro audio using balanced mic cables it happens all the time.

By the way, is there any simple way to test if XLR outputs are actually balanced without a boatload of test gear?

My pro mixers with balanced, low impedence ins and outs certainly "support the standard" or I wouldn't be able to use 100' snakes for clean signal...Better mic cables do sound better in my experience, as I noticed when recording music for a TV show we used to do...I was recording direct to digital with a Mackie board using a high sensitivity phantom powered condensor mic and used very good headphones...the better cables were clearly better sounding.

I'm gathering all my pro gear together tonight to talk to it about "violating the standard." I need to know what violations are taking place and why, and will include tip/ring/sleeve jacks and all my outboard gear...it won't be pretty.