The bottom line is, that know one will know what this unit is going to sound like with or without balanced outs until they try it in there own systems with there own electronics and room acoustics involved.

I found many years ago, that for me to purchase a piece of audio equipment based on others reviews, opinions, and specs was utterly foolish. One needs to remember that each reviewer uses different electronics, cables, room acoustics etc... not to mention ears, than what you are probably going to be using. Also, what’s one mans junk is another’s treasure. This surely holds true in the audiophile world. My theory has been to check the quality of the internal parts etc... and then to fully audition the piece in my own system. If it pleases my ears, I could care less about another’s review or the pros and cons of things like balanced and unbalanced outputs. While reading and learning about these things is interesting and thought provoking. The bottom line for me is how a piece sounds and performs for me, period. When one uses there ears as the final word regarding an audio purchase, they most likely will always be happy with it for as long as they own it. Also, on another note one needs to take into account the cost factor, and compare apples to apples, within a given price range. I believe that the only competition in the 990’s price range would be receivers. I have spent far more $'s on a pre pro. Even the very first units put out by Jim Fosgate in the early 90’s were much more expensive. In fact my very first pre pro was a Fosgate 4 and it set me back $2,500. over ten years ago, go figure. $1,100 sounds very inexpensive for a pre pro to me.

Just My .02 cents worth,