Phono Stage with XLR outs

after reading more of this thread, what I see is the OP is not satisfied with the sound of a $3K front end when his amp and speaker combo cost ten times as much. If you want the analog front end including a step up MC phono stage with balanced to meet your expectations, you'll need a higher budget or fairy dust. Garbage in=garbage out.

@cooperdude6 where do you get that idea bud? I’m trying to make it sound right. Which it does with the MP100. I know in most case it won’t match my digital front end. It’s not the objective and not the point. Sounding wrong and sounding not as good as my digital front end is two different things. You’re confused. 

@lewm not sure about boulder balanced in. But I think you nailed it with the adapters. No bueno. 
 

Whest is in. But I got some things to finish up around the house before I get to it. Initial impressions of this phono stage to follow…

@audphile1 

Listen to Whest and hopefully you like the way it sounds in your system. As I mentioned before, I can send you my RCA ➡️ XLR Purist Audio IC’s to try it out with Sutherland. In all seriousness, you need a phono with true balanced output to take advantage of Boulder balanced circuitry.  Perhaps a Boulder 508 down the road and you’re done! 

Just connected it. Letting it warm up. No time to listen yet. First few notes sounded good and I walked away. 
 

Here’s an excerpt from Whest:

Balanced outputs

The whestTWO.2 comes as standard fitted with true balanced outputs which are fed from the output of the Class-A stage. While most manufacturers are content with using a 2.00 EUR/ $2.00

IC chip to perform the balancing process and degrading the minute signal in the process, the

whestTWO.2 processes the balanced signal exactly like many high-end microphones and mixing

desks…this means a perfect balanced feed if you are using long signal lines

I will add that my objective is get to a level where things sound correct and I’m enjoying playing records. I will report back shortly!