I think you would be surprised at how well the M-975 does audio and had I known it would sound this nice I would have tried harder to keep the Polk Audio SDA's. My amp has no provision for balanced inputs so the M-975 not having them was not a deal breaker for me. My Dared SL-2000A tube line stage does not have them either. For longer runs the XLR cabling can be quite nice.

Other than the connectivity and room correction what would you be losing? I would like to get my hands on one of Tony's DRT units to see how it might respond to the usual upgrades.