Is an unbalanced preamp a bad thing?

Absolutely do not worry about it. Balance or not balanced is a design choice… I have had both and intermixed them. Typically there is virtually no difference in sound quality… Conrad Johnson components are incredibly good sounding… I would not think another moment about it.

I own Audio Research Reference gear and have tried to tell the difference between single ended and balanced… and could not.

Conrad Johnson is one of the greatest audio companies in the world producing some of the most musically satisfying components available. Enjoy!

@emergingsoul

”This is why people can’t stand buying new equipment with these stupid challenges….”

Well, this is the thing. If you want easy choices then buy something from a single manufacturer that you hear in a showroom… or a combination system you hear in a showroom… which unfortunately will sound vastly different in your home. If you want plug and play… high end audio is simply not for you. It just isn’t.

Achieving really high end audio is a journey of love, the solution clouded with ambiguity. There is ambiguity at every turn. Your preferences are different than every one else’s, yours will change over time. Every series of components sound different if you change one piece. It goes on and on.

I have been fascinated with high end audio for fifty years… learning more and more every year. I love complex, unstructured problems… this is a perfect pursuit for me.

But for most folks it is an expensive lot of nonsense. For some one of the most rewarding pursuits possible.

@runwell

+1.

Don’t worry about the connections. It’s all about the component. I would take a Conrad Johnson component using an single ended connection over a Mark Levinson, Naim, Macintosh, or any number of brands any day.