Tube Preamps.....

The Schiit Freya is maybe a giant killer of a tube preamp, and it's so cheap you could add an astonishingly great DAC and stay in that budget.

Note that the only serious issue with a Freya is the fact that you could become obsessed with 6SN7 tube types…my SE power amp also has one of these (a NOS Amperex), so I seem to now have a tube collecting problem with the Freya original 6N8S tubes (which are possibly all you need), Sylvania "chrome domes," more NOS Amperex when I can find them, new version Tung Sols (not too shabby really), and more coming from stashes of NOS RCAs and on it goes. You've been warned.

Another note on the Freya...it's much less expensive than many of the preamps noted here (about half the cost of the least expensive others noted), has more inputs both single ended and balanced with balanced outputs, and it has the cool 3 way passive/FET/tube operating options which can be changed with the remote from the beer soaked couch you got from your mom (or in my case, the throne I use since I'm Lithuanian royalty). I also found that the Freya really comes into its own with great tubes. I really think if the Freya cost 2 grand it would garner more respect immediately, and if more people said great things about them I'd feel better and less defensive about using one. 

I personally don’t get the LISST tube thing for the Freya as there are already 2 non tube stages built into it, although higher gain or fear of tubes may be the reason…in any case I’ve settled on NOS Sylvania "chrome domes" in the first tube stage with the new Tung Sols in the second position…I’m not certain that the Freya "kills" CJ or Audio Research preamps as I don’t have those to compare it with, but if it does it makes me feel like a real smart audio component chooser, which is good, and owners of any other preamps shouldn’t feel bad…maybe you simply didn’t know…