Well I've heard every complaint about BAT out there. Too transparent, too dark, etc. These are contradictory by the way. Too transparent usually means bright, and I know folks who think that BAT's are too dark, so it's probably a synergestic thing.
I'm expecting a BAT VK-32SE in tomorrow (Friday) for an audition. I've owned BAT VK-31SE, VK-50SE and VK-51SE. I've also owned CJ Premier 16LS mk II, VAC Renaissance mk II, Cary SLP-98. I would say that the CJ, VAC and Cary may sound a little 'tubier', but the BAT was much better with dynamics, power, extension and soundstage. The BAT is not the warmest tube preamp out there if that's what you're looking for, but it has actual bass definition that the 'tubey' sounding preamps don't have. The BAT definitely has tube like characteristics, more so than any solid state preamps, but some tube-o-philes like syrupy sweetness, which the BAT doesn't have. The other side is that the sweeter tube preamps don't have the power and dynamics of the BAT. Pick your poison.
FWIW, the ARC Ref 3 is also supposedly a great preamp, but with no phono. I personally do not want a preamp with an inboard phono stage though, because all of those tubes are running all of the time, even if you're listening to cd's and not using the phono tubes, the phono tubes are still burning.
For example, the Aesthetix Janus has 4 line section tubes, just like the Calypso, but it also has 8 tubes in the phono stage. So all 12 tubes are running all the time, whether you're listening to vinyl, cd, tuner, or whatever. When you find out the replacement costs of good tubes, this may be an issue for you, as it was for me. That's why I prefer a seperate outboard phono stage. Only use the phono stage when spinning vinyl.
BTW, the BAT's internal phono stage is an inexpensive $500 solid state plug in board. The Aesthetix Janus is a $2000 tube based phono stage. Quite a difference. Atma-sphere also makes a balanced tube preamp with a built in phono stage. Warning though, the Atma-sphere has no remote, if this means anything to you. However, it also has a nice built in tube phono stage (4 tubes line stage, 7 tubes phono).
That's about all I can think of that meet your requirements. Full Function (phono + line stages), tube and balanced outputs. Aesthetix Janus, Atma-sphere MP-3 both have tube phono and line stages, and a BAT is a tube line stage with a SS VK-3 phono board. Oh, and VAC makes several preamps that are tube and have inboard phono stages. They have balanced inputs and outputs, but are not truely balanced designs like those mentioned above. This means that their internal circuitry is single ended, but they have XLR ins/outs and use transformers to change the signal from Bal to SE and then back to BAL at the output.
As you can see, the more features you want, the more you paint yourself into a corner with selection.
John
