I believe a Sunfire Classic vacuum tube preamp might fit the bill. I had one a few years back and it was quite good! It has balanced outs, but I don't think its completely differential internally, but for under 2k, that probably isn't going to happen. It also supports a phono stage, while mine didn't have the card, it was also supposed to be pretty decent. I remember the pre was quiet, and added a nice touch of warmth to my system, which is what I presume you are looking for.
Which tube preamp meets all these needs?
There are so many tube preamps. Are there any that fit the following criteria?
1) Actually has a "tubey" sound (as opposed to really neutral sound like Audio Research).
2) Is fully balanced (all the rest of my components are and I'd like to continue to take advantage of this).
3) Has a HT bypass of some sort.
4) Has a remote that controls volume and switching sources (I was looking at BAT vk3ix, but that remote for some reason doesn't control source switching).
5) Can be had used for 2k or under.
Rest of system is Theta front end and amp, Snell speakers, Rel sub. Please help point me in the right direction. Thanks. -Dave
1) Actually has a "tubey" sound (as opposed to really neutral sound like Audio Research).
2) Is fully balanced (all the rest of my components are and I'd like to continue to take advantage of this).
3) Has a HT bypass of some sort.
4) Has a remote that controls volume and switching sources (I was looking at BAT vk3ix, but that remote for some reason doesn't control source switching).
5) Can be had used for 2k or under.
Rest of system is Theta front end and amp, Snell speakers, Rel sub. Please help point me in the right direction. Thanks. -Dave