Good Universal Player with Balanced Outs

Well, the full story is that I am having a builder make me a balanced headphone amplifier that requires balanced inputs for me to drive my balanced headphones. I would like to get a source to go along with this player, so I can go off and enjoy my music while the wife and kids are watching/listening to the main system evenings. I have been really excited by the new formats and have just been waiting for the players to improve enough that they are worthy long-tem investments. I tend to find equipment I really like and then hang on to it forever. I tried a stop-gap measure and picked up a Wadia 830, but unfortunately I find the sound quality isn't as good as my ModWrighted Pioneer 38a (which does not have balanced outputs). So the three alternatives I can see are:

1) Continue with the Wadia and then sell it in a year or two when newer generations of universal players come along with more mature implementations.

2) Have the Wadia modded by Great Northern Sound. I'm sure this would be a great setup for CDs, but it also means I'm putting 3K into a player that can't handle SACD/DVD-Audio.

3) Go for something like the Esoteric DV-50 you mention Thsalmon. My main concern here is whether or not the next couple of generations of universal players will be substantial improvements, much like with the early CD players, so in a couple of years I'll wind up replacing this player at a healthy loss. I went up to Teac's site yesterday, but they don't have any information about the DV-50 that I could find to determine the exact specs (and where'd find one).

BTW Thsalmon, you're right, the Esoteric does have balanced outs at least according to the Stereophile review.

Lexikon has a new universal player called the RT-10, supposed to list for $3500. Also, the Linn Unidisk 1.1 is hugely expensive, but Linn just came out with the Unidisk 2.1 which is somewhat less (I think in the 5k-7k range). I don't know the difference between the two models, but if you find out, let me know.

I am also in the market for a universal player in your price range. I am not into home theater. I just like 2 channel stereo. My question is: if a universal machine is also a multichannel and video player, am I paying a lot more for functionality that I don't want.

Thanks,
Gary

I took a look at the Linn and the Lexicon. They both look like very nice players from solid manufacturers. I do notice that both seem to be missing 1394 support. I am trying to get the firewire since I'm assuming that there will be improvements in the next generations and eventually there will be DACs for the DVD-Audio signal that will far outstrip the current crop.

Just noticed the Lexicon lacks the balanced outputs also.

GBoren,

I don't think you're paying a lot more for the funtionality, only because I don't think any manufacturer will be creating any new players that arent' multichannel with video. I suppose you could buy one of the earlier Sonys used, but I would think that is sort of a waste. I also think you're going to need the video, at least for the DVD-Audio discs. While the discs don't HAVE to be authored to require video, many of them I've had are much easier to access with video. Otherwise you blindly jump between groups until you hit the right one. Seems tedious after spending this much money!