[RonB]

Are there any brands out there that can can be recommended & what would they're price levels be?

[JAMn Joe]

RonB,

First off, I'm a dealer for disclosure purposes. I don't know what your price point is but I would highly recommend the Esoterics from Teac. I took one in on trade from a customer and I'm not going to put it up for sale anytime in the near future.

I'm not sure where the price points start with Esoteric but I know they have pieces in the $5000 range going up into the 5 digit range. They have come out with a more reasonably priced line but I don't know where the price points start on those either.

They are extremely durable units and I can say for the UX-3 that I have here, quite musical. Highly recommended from my perspective.

Ayre also has a really nice unit that's user configurable. I believe it starts around $6500 and also sounds very nice.

For the record, I don't handle either of these lines but I would if I could.

[AB]

There are several mod companies that add balanced outs to the usual universal players. I know the Parts Connexion/Underwood guys add balanced outs to their upper end modded Denon units. I would expect you could find versions of these used too.

[ted_b]

Since you said balanced "universals" I assume you mean only 2 channel, though.  I've never seen all 5.1 analog outs to be balanced.  Joe is right about the Esoteric line, and their newer DV-60 and SA-60 (no video) can be eval'd through Music Direct.  They have balanced stereo outs (but single ended 5.1 outs). 

[RonB]

Thanks to all for your valuable time & knowledgeable input!
Ron