Phono Stage with XLR outs

@audphile1 what didn't you like about the KC Vibe MII? 

I liked it. But when I upgraded from Hana EL to ML I upgraded to 20/20 Mk2 LPS. It provides more flexibility in load settings. The gain with the Vibe was slightly low - believe it or not I heard the difference between 0.5 on EL and 0.4 on ML. 20/20 resolved it. It was also much quieter and sounded better than the vibe. But…the Vibe is a solid phono. 

@lewm I think so too. I also see if this time around I’ll hang on to the analog front end. I recently acquired a nice Teac A-3340S reel deck. The recording section of it needs a hopefully minimal overhaul, but I want to play around a bit with vinyl to tape recording. The tapes I have sound really nice. It’s kind of a fun part of the hobby to play with different toys and see how good I can get it to sound. I love my streaming front end. This is just to keep me less bored and more satisfied. :)

Hegel V10. Used for $1200. Can be setbup for all carts. Xerox and rca out. Sounds great!

If all of your equipment is fully balanced/fully differential, then just go balanced for the whole thing. Phono cartridges are inherently balanced, Most of the time they're just wired single ended. Another option is to get a fully balanced phono preamp and run a balanced tone arm cable to a balanced input on a phono preamp. Then the signal stays balanced from the phono cart to the power amp. As far as sound quality goes, you'll hear little to no difference unless you do everything balanced. And if you are not going to go all balanced, you're better off getting a single ended phono stage and use your adaptors. That way you can pick any phono stage you want. It doesn't make sense to limit all of your choices to having xlr outputs when you'll hear little to no difference at all. 

There is one other thing you'll need to consider. You'll have to make sure you can use the adaptors on your balanced components. In some situations you can damage your equipment with the adaptors. A balanced signal has 2 hot wires and a ground. Most adaptors shunt (combine) the number 2 pin to ground. Something has to be done with the extra signal conductor. If you plug an adaptor like this into a balanced connection on a component that doesn't float the ground, you instantly create a short circuit the second you plug the adaptor in. Your owners manual should be able to tell you what you can and can't do. If not, just ask the manufacturer.