I had a Freya and thought it offered a ton of features for the price but I never liked the sound even after rolling tubes. I also found it noisy.
I had a Decware CSP3 and while it was very simple I really liked the sound, but it was also a bit noisy. It does have gain control of the input and of the output tubes and that allowed for dramatic changing of the character of the tube sound. It is single ended and I like the silence of balanced output. Its a great Pre to start with and many never move on.
I moved on to an Allnic L-4000 and really loved it until I had an opportunity to swap a DAC for an Allnic L-7000 and I pinch myself every day for how I cant believe how good it sounds.
I had a Decware CSP3 and while it was very simple I really liked the sound, but it was also a bit noisy. It does have gain control of the input and of the output tubes and that allowed for dramatic changing of the character of the tube sound. It is single ended and I like the silence of balanced output. Its a great Pre to start with and many never move on.
I moved on to an Allnic L-4000 and really loved it until I had an opportunity to swap a DAC for an Allnic L-7000 and I pinch myself every day for how I cant believe how good it sounds.