Clearaudio Balance V2 Phono Preamplifier

The Balance V2 — Two Chassis, Balanced Throughout, With Headphones On the Front

The Balance V2 splits the job across two aluminum boxes of identical footprint. One holds the audio circuitry, the other holds the power supply, joined by a 1.4-meter cable. Mains transformers radiate; putting one in a separate case removes that field from a circuit handling a fraction of a millivolt.

Inside the audio chassis, left and right run as independent balanced circuits from input to output. That is the design brief for the whole unit — not a balanced output stage bolted onto a single-ended amplifier, but a signal path that stays differential the entire way through.

Clearaudio finishes both cases in silver or black anodized aluminum. The preamplifier weighs about 5.1 pounds; the power supply adds another 3.1. Neither is large, which surprises people who expect a two-box phono stage to demand its own shelf.

Engineering: Where the $4,800 Goes

RIAA Accuracy and Distortion

Two passive filter stages hold RIAA equalization to ±0.1 dB, using the 75, 318 and 3,180 microsecond time constants. Total harmonic distortion measures below 0.001 percent on the IEC A weighting. Signal-to-noise runs −78 dB in moving magnet mode and −79 dB in moving coil.

Gain, for Cartridges at Either End

Moving magnet mode delivers +46 dB, moving coil +66 dB. Sixty-six decibels is genuine low-output territory, enough for cartridges in the tenths of a millivolt that leave most phono stages straining. A switch selects between the two modes, and nothing else about the input changes when you move it.

The Subsonic Filter and the Outputs

A switchable 20 Hz subsonic filter rolls off at 6 dB per octave, applied per channel. The RCA and XLR outputs run in parallel, so a balanced main system and a second single-ended amplifier can both stay connected.

A Headphone Amplifier That Is Not an Afterthought

A 6.3 mm jack on the front panel is driven by the same balanced circuitry feeding the outputs. For late-night listening that means the record goes through one high-quality amplification stage on its way to your ears, rather than two boxes and an extra cable.

Who Is the Clearaudio Balance V2 Best For?

• Owners of a balanced system. True XLR outputs let the phono signal stay differential all the way to the power amplifier, which is where long cable runs stop costing you anything.
• Low-output moving coil users. Sixty-six decibels of gain means a 0.2 mV cartridge arrives at a normal listening level without the noise floor coming up to meet it.
• Listeners who want measured precision. RIAA held to ±0.1 dB and distortion under 0.001 percent mean the record is being decoded, not interpreted.
• Anyone who listens on headphones as often as on speakers. The front jack removes a whole box and a whole interconnect from that signal path.
• Not for the listener who wants to experiment with cartridge loading. The Balance V2 is fixed at 47 kΩ / 270 pF for moving magnet and 500 Ω / 270 pF for moving coil, with no user settings. Choose from our phono cartridges with those values in mind.

How Does It Connect?

The turntable arrives on gold-plated RCA inputs. Out of the back come both RCA and XLR, live at the same time. The power supply chassis connects with its own captive lead and wants to sit away from the audio box rather than stacked on top of it.

Select moving magnet or moving coil on the switch, decide whether the subsonic filter stays in, and that is the whole setup procedure. There are no loading values to research, because the Balance V2 does not offer any.

Pairs Well With

At this level the cartridge and the cable are doing as much work as the phono stage:

• Clearaudio Stradivari V2.1 MC Cartridge — a low-output design the 66 dB setting was built to drive.
• Clearaudio Da Vinci v2.1 MC Cartridge — for a system where the phono stage should never be the limit.
• A shielded tonearm cable — everything the Balance V2 does to protect the signal happens after this cable has already carried it.
• A pair of full-size headphones — the front jack is fed by the same balanced circuit as the main outputs, so it deserves better than a spare pair.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I adjust the cartridge loading?

The Balance V2 uses fixed values: 47 kΩ with 270 pF for moving magnet, 500 ohms with 270 pF for moving coil. Clearaudio's position is that a correctly chosen cartridge does not need adjustment, so the unit provides a mode switch and nothing further.

Why is the power supply in its own box?

A mains transformer produces a magnetic field, and a phono stage amplifies the smallest signal in audio. Separating them by a 1.4-meter cable puts that field far enough away that it stops being part of the design problem.

Can I use the RCA and XLR outputs at the same time?

Yes. They operate in parallel, so you can feed a balanced main amplifier and a single-ended second system without an external splitter or any switching between them.

How good is the headphone output?

It runs off the same balanced circuitry that drives the outputs, through a 6.3 mm jack on the front. In practice this replaces a separate headphone amplifier and the interconnect that would have fed it.

Will 66 dB be too much gain for a high-output cartridge?

For a high-output moving coil or a moving magnet, use the +46 dB setting instead. The two modes exist to cover the range; running a hot cartridge into the moving coil input would overload it, which the mode switch prevents.

What finishes does it come in?

Silver and black anodized aluminum, on both the preamplifier and the matching power supply chassis. The two boxes share a footprint of roughly 9.4 by 5.7 inches, and stand about 2.4 inches tall.

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