SS balanced preamplifier for Krell FPB 400cx

Haroon, have you looked inside the Fire? If not, how can you say it is not a balanced design?

I have owned the Ayre K-1xe with my krell amps. I have also heard the Ayre K-5xe with krell amps at thiel. Both work very well with the krell amps.

Muralman1, this is off topic discussion. However, I went to the website of H2O Fire Preamplifier and checked the specifications before I posted the comments. The preamplifier doesn't have XLR inputs/outputs. I believe you intend to say that some preamplifiers do have XLR inputs/outputs but they do not have balanced circuitry and vice versa.

Please more opinions on Mark Levinson 380s, Pass Labs X1 or Ayre K-5xe!

Hello Haroon-
The Pass remote takes a bit of getting used to, but as long as you can SEE
the X-1 you'll get it. It will take a couple weeks or so of cursing, but
then no problems. As far as the volume changes I do not have an issue. With
my high output Moving Coil cart the volume was too loud for my wife, but
truly with a pre this good you want a low output MC cart anyway (which I
bought, and now no problem). My VSA SR.IV's are pretty efficient at 92 Db
and my Pass amps rate @600 watts, so a little volume goes a long way. I do
not notice ANY noise when the volume is up, though there is a bit of static
if you turn up the volume very quickly (only as your turning it up). A non
issue IMHO. I LOVE my X1-Pre and all my Pass equipment (X-600 Monos, X-1
Pre, Xono phono stage.
Hope this helps-

Harron-
I forgot to mention the Pass pre has High (14db) and Low (4db) gain settings for each of its' inputs. I use the low setting.