Wanted->Discrete balanced to unbalanced CMR converter

[Steve Eddy]

Well, I prety much gave up. I guess I will use a transformer.

'Bout time you came to your senses.

Q1: Which companies make these high performance line matching transformers?

Jensen, Sowter, Lundahl, and Stevens & Billington to name a few.

Q2: With a transformer, should I buffer the output?

Not necessarily. The output will see pretty much the same impedance it'd see otherwise.

Q3: Using a transformer would make life extra easy for integration into the Balanced Zen Pre-amp. However, I do not need the signal gain, would a simple voltage follower buffer make things any better?

How do you mean? A voltage follower buffer where? In lieu of the Zen?

Q4: Are there any worthy pre-amp output buffer stages which can drive headphones?

Sure. Take a look at some of the projects over at Headwize.

se