Because it's a a fully balanced design except for the volume knob? So all the parts are already there? And having a balanced connection that's ultimately not balanced because of one of the cheaper parts in it is a shame?

It isn't. Sadly

Yea, I believe I mailed them years ago with exactly this question. From memory they acknowledge that this means the balanced output is not fully balanced internally

Yea, one of the outputs didn't work but no buzzing (that I can remember). It got better the longer the unit was on and usually fixed the audio dropping out in the affected channel. It did however give a nasty *pop* sound whenever I turned it off in the channel that had problems. But only in...

Could be anything to be honest. But I had similar problems with a mk1 unit but only in the single ended output. Is that the same for you? I contacted Auralic and they where willing to look into it, for a price of course

Haven't noticed it. Could also be expectation bias?

Ha! I thought the same but you just confirmed that's the way they're made. The v1 actually had better feet that do their work properly.....

Completely normal! It's because of the Alps pot used. I checked this with Auralic themselves and they confirmed this.

Subtle difference, std has more voltage swing and bal has more amperage and that's audible

Not really, just that it has absurd amounts of gain for a preamp (and headamp to be quite honest)

Looks good, from what I can make out. The metal wire should be unbroken and attached at both ends. If you give it a shake it should stay put. If it moves or you hear soft ringing it's broken.

Do you have a picture of it? Perhaps I can see if it's borked

No problem :) See the little "flap" on the left? Usually your nail or a smal flathead screwdriver will open that. Just use gentle force with the screwdriver!

No, I mean did you check the fuse in the back?

Did you also check the fuse in the unit itself? It's underneath the IEC inleton the unit itself