Like the OP, I use a Pass XA 30.5. My phono pre is a Pass XP-15 and my Pre is a Pass XP-10. Even on the high gain setting on the phono pre, the system is very quiet, black backgrounds, I'm sure due, in a large part, to the balanced design and CMRR as Ralph points out. The connection between the XP-10 and XA30.5 is a 25 foot run of Canare 4e6s star quad XLRs which sound exactly like a shorter run of AQ SKY balanced cables in my system. This also agrees with Ralph's statement about the benefit of a balanced design and cheap cables.
Hopefully some day I will sell the XP-10 and XP-15 for an Atma-sphere MP-1.
-Karl
Hopefully some day I will sell the XP-10 and XP-15 for an Atma-sphere MP-1.
-Karl