a collegue of mine is using AMS Neve 1073 DPA, that has balanced line inputs (As well as mic inputs), and is sometimes driving the whole mix thru it. he is a successful mastering and mixing engineer.
however, rarely without help of other tools in the chain, like crane song stc8, ibis or dbx160sl.. running all thru a pre is like an icing on the cake.. a final touch to glue all and have a more musical mix.
i've heard his Neve a/b, and indeed its a subtle but very, very nice difference. it's got all you want: i/o transformers, that saturate depending on i/o gain settings, and discrete solid state circuitry. but it ain't cheap. on the plus side, beside using it for 2-bus, youre also getting a 2-ch highend pre for vocals, instruments, hw synths.. you dont have too look further.
somewhat cheaper, that i can also recommend is a 2ch Great River.. the MP-2NV. im using the single channel version. it really can be clear (yet with character) and saturated if needs be (perhaps less than neve).. a focused, widebandwith sound. haven't tried pacifica, but GR works on quite a large number of sources n mixes. most users are unanimous in this, and my experience ain't different. fwiw. u use its hi-z inputs.
