Recommnedations for moderately price balanced IC's, and adaptors to an RCA end

Thanks to all who have responded.  I need to consult Victor K. at BAT to ask him about the XLR to RCA type cable, and probably reconfirm the use of the Rogue variable pre-out with a fully balanced amp.  BTW, Mogami makes such a cable, and also a XLR to XLR cable, both sell for approx between $40-50.recommeded by one of the above members. I Have not checked out the Signal Cables recommended by another.

To Almarg and Hasmarto:  The Mogami cable XLR(female) to  RCA (male connectors) are all of one cable, not an "ADAPTOR" ADD ON to a XLR to XLR cable.  The drawback according to Mogami is that you lose the benefit of reduced noise offered by XLR to XLR which somewhat defeats part of the purpose of using a fully balanced amp.

I understand, Hasmarto's claim that the Rogue Sphinx is not in the same league as the BAT VK-200. As noted the new Rogue RP-1 uses only RCA inputs and outputs, but the pre-amp should be superior to the pre-amp of the Sphinx v.1 or the  upgraded Sphinx v.2. 

 Lastly, I have no intentions of keeping the Sphinx v.1. but also looking for pre-amp with possible both XLR and RCA connectors. I have a Ayre CX-7e mp CD player which is outstanding and has an XLR outputs which an a fully balanced cable should improve its performance

So as it stands, I just need to find  a pre-amp with at least 3 XLR connectors: two obviously for the amp, and one for Ayre CD player. It would be nice to find such a unit with a remote control, and the bonus of of a good quality phono stage. I am not interested in a built in DAC, or HT processor or loops.

AL, thank for the tip about the Neutrik adapter:  Also the headsup about ARC pre-amps not working with a XLR to RCA cables; I saw an ad on AG for a brand new ARC LS-17SE, but it has NO phono stage, (not sure about the remote)  I am also concerned about your comment about a possible reduction of 6 db in volume using an XLR to RCA cable.  I will have to e-mail Victor K. at BAT to get his thoughts on this issue.  Thanks again to all responders!!  Jim     

Al, Thank you for the corrections. I am sorry I misstated  your previous comments. As you can see despite being involved in audio for 40 years, I am ignorant of this XLR technology

Let me clarify. a few mistaken points I mentioned before either on this thread or previous one  I spoke to Mark O"Brien  at Rogue Audio today.  He informed me that "Line 3" of the Sphinx integrated is an input, not an output. There is an area on the back of the Rogue Sphinx sectioned off that has a variable and fixed output  The "variable" output is the one he recommended for hooking up the BAT VK-200 amp,  So you have out of the pre-amp stage into the BAT amp, and the signal travels through the speaker wires to the speaker.  OK. 

I also mentioned to Mark what you noted about losing signal strength up to approx 50 %, and Mogami 's claim that using an XLR to RCA connector will not reduce the noise produced by an RCA to RCA IC.  It will stay the same.  Mark is not a fan of XLR ICs. More or unless claiming they will produce only some reduction of noise. He also noted that a fully balanced pre-amp will cost a lot of money. A member however claims there is a BAT 31SE for sale on AG for $1000.  (Hare to believe, unless it is an "as is" piece).

I don't really  do not need a fully balanced pre-amp  According to you, just  I will need two cable XLR outputs for the BAT amp, and two XLR output cables from the Ayre CD player to the  XLR inputs on the pre-amp.  I hope I got this correct this time

BTW, I believe on another thread, I was asking about the variable output. and you consulted the Sphinx manual.  I responded to both you  and  think "Mensch",  but my response was lost in Audiogon cyberspace.

In this lost e-mail, I mentioned that I had called Rogue, and was told by one of the techs  that variable( pre-out) output runs through an "op-amp", and not the "tubed" section of the Sphinx pre-amp stage. He also noted the sound may not be quite as good, with a minimal loss of sound quality. O'Brien more or less confirmed the same fact to me in today's conversation  I mentioned in my e-mail that unless I am wrong the so-called pre-out  was not a true or standard pre-out like the one in the Creek 5350SE Classic which I owned about 7 years ago, using it with a pair of Red Dragon M-500 Class D mono block amps. 

However, I don't know if  op-amps are a standard design component for pre-amp outs on integrated amps in which you can separate the amp from the pre-amp stage.  O'Brien claims that using variable pre-out on the Sphinx will still allow control of volume and other features on the integrated amp

BTW, I mentioned  before that about one year ago, I changed out the two standard tubes in the Sphinx to Mullards 4003CV tubes. This was recommended by a member who claimed it cut "much" of the glare, and brightness from the sound which was an artifact of the Hypex spinoff of class D amplification. It did work as billed by the member.  

NOTE:  the Sphinx v.1 manual is poor. There is no photos or line drawings of the back of the amp. They can do better!

I think I am somewhat back to Square One because one of benefits of XLR to XLR interconnects was the reduction of noise.  I did buy the BAT VK-200 amp The deal was too good to turn down.  Thanks again for all you advice and comments....... Jim   

Thanks again to Almarg and others who have responded with very good  and plentiful advice

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To Mensch, your last response makes good sense because I don't want to jump too fast  buying  a suitable and quality fully balanced or partly balanced pre-amp to accommodate BAT VK-200 amp. 

As I mentioned before, I DON'T WANT to necessarily buy an outboard  phono stage and headphone amp or box . That is two more cables and also more potential headaches .I realize that a separate phono stage like the Musical Surrounding Phonophemon II  is an excellent  choice because I owned one  about 4 years ago. However, 75% of  my listening is by CD, and the rest LP's. I could easily live with a Project RPM-3 table packaged with a Sumiko Blue Point 2 cartridge

The easiest solution might be to buy the new Rogue RP-1 pre-amp reviewed by Stereophile   in the August 2016 issue . It has a MM/MC phone stage, an improved and higher gain headphone amp and a better remote with some additional features.  I am sure other reviews will follow.

However, as I noted before, the Rogue RP-1 uses only RCA connectors. Nevertheless,  it should provide a almost major step up in sound quality from the pre-amp stage of the Sphinx v.1. (I hope)  

The question is ( and maybe I missed something that Almarg noted  before)

 1) do XLR to XLR  IC's  "insignificantly" reduce RF noise carried by RCA cables. resulting in blacker grounds and improved clarity and transparency??  2) As Mensch noted, he acquired a "pair" of XLR to RCA interconnects through CablesOnline.com for less than $20.00 Several other members offered other brand name XLR cables or a combination of balanced to unbalanced IC's,

Almarg clarified about the  potential loss of volume employing an XLR to RCA cable as offered by Mogami, and others  However,I did not mention to Al,  I operate the volume in the range between 12 o'clock  to 2 o'clock.which may be greater than "upper 25% " of its range" as noted

. If  MY volume setting IS NOT as Almarg commented.  IN THE 25% UPPER RANGE.  then it is not a significant issue. I do play it loud, but not head banger loud.  Also,  the potentiometer of Sphinx seems to gain well at about 12 o'clock high, but the remote,  seems  to step the volume up  in 2 db increments, unlike the remote of Bel Canto Pre3. Its volume gain via its remote was more subtle and controllable.  

The issue for me is:....  I don't want to crank the volume up to 3 or 4 o'clock  high on either the Sphinx v.1 integrated or the new Rogue RP-1 pre-amp as a consequence of using  XLR to RCA cables.  If so, then I must search for a pre-amp that is either fully balanced or mixture of balanced and unbalanced connectors.  I need to understand more about the volume range I am operating  to make it  loud to my satisfaction   Thanks to all,   Jim 

Al, Thanks again. for your comments and advice

 You should open an audio consulting business.  Jim

To Almarg, Mensch and those who responded: 

I bought the BAT VK-200 amp and hooked it up to the Rogue Sphinx integrated amp's variable output (pre-out) using a pair of Signal Audio Cables (that is, XLR male to RCA male). They supposedly take 50 hours to break in.  The VK-200 is an excellent sounding amp with deep bass, and detailed midrange.

Almarg was almost right on the money about some loss of volume because of the IC cable used  Actually, this is not totally conclusive on my part  I first  played Fleetwood Mac's "Tusk" CD, and it was loud at 12 to 1.00 o-clock    I followed with a specially produced classical music  sampler offered by the magazine, HI-FI Plus. This CD was produced to showcase microphones produced by Neumann and Sennhiser engineers  The CD's sound quality is very good, but not spectacular.  When I got to the excerpt from Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite"  ( the Finale), I gunned the volume a bit more, and discovered that at a point it got no louder. I looked at the volume control and it was at  5  o' clock.  The difference in volume  levels between the  two CD's  "may" (I say may) be attributable to the output level  that each CD was recorded. It also could be what Almarg suggested a consequence of not using a XLR to XLR interconnect, despite the fact that the amp is designed for  both balanced and  unbalanced operation. The latter needing an adaptor. or XLR to RCA cable.  Cheers, Jim 

Almarg,  Thanks for the response.  So far so good using BAT VK-200 hooked to the pre-out of the Sphinx integrated. I was playing the last LP of the "Mozart's Six Sonatas Dedicated to Haydn" played by the Quartetto Italiano on a the Philips label. Even though the pops and clicks, the recording is still stellar, and VK-200 lent a greater sense of presence to the performance.  I quirkily followed up with Grateful Dead's "Europe '72 CD which supposedly  was remastered with reduced noise compared the original LP with the booklet insert of pix from their famous tour.  It sounded good and I could hear the ambience of the Olympia Theater in Paris playing  "Sugar  Magnolia"  They really were on their game on this tour.  However, while listening, I wondered if this recording could have been much better, that is more definition, clarity, transparency in the midrange  I know that the Dead's sound crew recorded on tape directly off of the mixing board which probably has both pros and cons. 

This issue "clarity" may be the "stuff" for a new thread. This issue  haunts Derek and the Dominos's album "Layla"   Magnificent playing from the band especially Clapton and Duane Allman. I have the gold Mobile Fidelity CD and though better than the LP version, it still sounds somewhat muffled or lacking in overall clarity. However, some track sound better than others, especially "Little Wing", "Key to the Highway" and "Nobody knows when You are Down and Out"