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Well, I've made a decision and pulled the tigger. Two triggers, in fact.
I want to thank everyone for their input and advice. I learned about several brands and products I'd never heard of -- or had forgotten about. I seriously looked at every single one of each of your recommendations, and tried out a few, either in a show room or in my system. Even stole my daughter's LTA Microzotl (which, for whatever reason, thought of as a headphone amp) for an evening.
The Vinnie Rossi Brama Meiter is stunning-looking and well-reviewed and the one that I could not audition because I couldn't find one located where I could reasonably justify to the IRS (and my board) firing up the company plane and checking out. It will forever be the pretty girl with whom I didn't get to dance.
The runner-up was the Audio Research Reference 10, a late entry here, of which there are numerous used examples for very reasonable prices. I borrowed a buddies, and it is extremely good. Very crisp. He also brought in a Van den Hul The Grail SE (the one with the two power supplies). I fell in love with this Phono Preamp.
Fourth place was the Dan D'Agastino's RELENTLESS (not Momentum). I could only find it new and the dealer wanted more than MSRP. I also couldn't try it out on my system and had to rely on a studio audition. It has a distinct "house" sound, which, if you like it, that's great. B
The Esoteric Grandioso (C01X?) fell to third. It has all the right bits, but something wasn't right, and we did blind A-B testing.
The winner was the Nagra HD preamp. It had my objective list of requirements: true dual mono, fully balanced inputs and outputs, and just outstanding sound. Even used (at $36K) it was ~2X more than the Audio Research (used) it was superior. But when I paired it with the Vdh The Grail SE, it was pure magic. The two work exceptionally well together.
So anyway, I ended up buying the Nagra HD today (sending check Monday) -- and ended up buying a VdH Grail SE phono stage unexpectedly.
Happy listening, everyone. And thanks for all your help.
