Me: "I want a single ended, solid state headphone amp and preamp."
Head-Case: "N0000! You want a tube pre and balanced amp!"
At least I know what the emoticon means now.
...
I'm surprised no one's suggested that I just buy an SDS-XLR yet. It's balanced and tube!
Here's the deal: I could have almost afforded a GS-X, at its old price, if I had not bought the Quad 12Ls and CDP-2. The thing is, I did buy those and the GS-X is now $500 more expensive. The only conceivable way I could afford it is to adopt the "Duggeh" model of gear aquisition, which is to sell all extraneous kit I have first, and then purchase what I'm after. I have traditionally followed the "Torpedo" model of buying the gear I want when I see it, and then figuring out how I'm going to afford it. I cannot do this in the balanced realm. Maybe if I hadn't spent the last four months renovating my house (which has tallied up bills of Krell-like proportions.)
I think in the short term, I'm buying a Rotel SE preamp. If I can turn some of my unused audio gear (Macs, Dynaco, tubes, etc) into cash, you may see me hanging out with the cool kids and their GS-Xs in 2009.