Modwright LS 36.5 or BAT VK-51SE

I thought about the TRL Dude as well, but isn't that a single ended (rca only) preamp?

I need balanced inputs and outputs. If the Dude is available with balanced ins and outs, it will certainly be in the running.

Can anyone confirm?

Bugredmachine:

I've never heard either of these tubes, or either of the preamps! I live in northern NH and there isn't much access to demos or dealers around here, so I am going on input I've received and reviews. I would love to hear about the differences between the two models of tubes these two different preamps use. Thanks,

My system is:

Pass XA-60.5 amps
Esoteric P-05 transport
Esoteric D-03 DAC
Totem Hawk speakers
Pass Labs X0.2 preamp (upgrading now)

Tvad:

I appreciate the input. Do you think a balanced TRL Dude would be a better choice?

Please consider that the XO.2 has a decent resale value, so moving to either the BAT, MW or Dude won't cost me much out of pocket once the XO.2 is sold.

Erndog: Yes, I want to upgrade speakers as well, and am negotiating on a pair of preowned Daedalus Ulysses.

Tvad: Pauls's response regarding the balanced option and impedance was

"No, I've never heard a line transformer that I liked, even spent lots of money trying to get some made. We use a resistor pull-down xlr. I think we've sold a Dude to a Pass owner, what's the input impedance? Dude is happy with 25K or more load. Lower, there might be some bandwidth loss, might be more of a situation on paper than in actual use, though. Thanks,Paul"

The input impedance on my XA-60.5's is 30k balanced and 15k unbalanced?

I'm not certain these will be compatible? Any thoughts, as I don't know much about impedance and proper matching?

Will I be ok if I used the balanced input on my amps connected with a resistor pull down xlr on the dude?

Thanks,

Greg

Tvad: Was there any hiss or noise with the L2 Reference with the Pass Labs XA-60.5's?

I've read several posts where the Lamm L2 reference hisses loudly with just about every other amp besides their own, and Lamm says it's "normal". It's driven people crazy that tried to fix the problem with no luck, so it sounds like a risky move. I'm leaning towards the Modwright LS 36.5 at this point or possibly that with seperate dual mono power supply.