Preamp advice

Atmasphere full function preamplifiers (phono stage included) have been OTL/OCL for more than 30 years, and they are fully balanced devices. You might find a pre-owned MP3 within your price limit. I have been using an MP1 for approaching 30 years.

By the way, isn't the Schiit Valhalla a headphone amplifier/preamplifier?  If so, not what the OP is looking for, I think. Several SS preamplfiers are also OCL/OTL, and balanced. Lots of choice if you want SS.

Actually, OTL is largely irrelevant for solid-state preamps and amplifiers, since they do not require transformers or buffer stages to regulate output impedance. What matters instead is OCL. One OCL solid-state preamp I’ve been interested in is the Benchmark LA4 Line Amplifier, which uses a servo circuit to control DC offset in its DC-coupled design.

I was also puzzled, @lewm, why the V3 would not meet the OP’s needs, given that it is primarily designed as a headphone amplifier. It should still function as a preamp, provided it has adequate capability?!

Atmasphere might not be possible  as Iam in Melbourne,  Australia.

There are no dealers for that amp here.

"Actually, OTL is largely irrelevant for solid-state preamps and amplifiers, since they do not require transformers or buffer stages to regulate output impedance. What matters instead is OCL."

The main rationale for either a transformer or a capacitor at the output of a preamplifier is to block DC voltage from affecting the input stage of the downstream amplifier.  Both transformers and capacitors block DC.  This has not much to do with "regulating output impedance".  However, the term "buffer stage" is usually used to describe an active stage (tube or transistor) that is used to lower output impedance. A buffer stage can still have DC at its output, and you would need a transformer or more usually a capacitor to block it. Because SS gear operates at much lower voltages than do tubes, it is a bit easier to implement an SS circuit that does not require C or T, but in many cases an op amp or the like is used to cancel the small amount of DC offset that may be present.