I went from a CAT Mk. III with phono (not Ultimate, of which I understand there are two iterations higher on the food chain than the Mk. III) to a Hovland line stage. In my system, and comparing only the line stages, the Hovland was clearly better, but again, it was not being compared to the best CAT preamp. The CAT was by no means a slouch and had a very good on-board phono stage. I only sold the CAT because it had way too much gain partnered with sensitive amps -- it drove my VAC tube amps to super-loud levels at only 9 O'Clock on the volume control.
Incidentally, the Hovland has unshielded outputs and can be noisy.
Either new or used, there are a lot of very good tube preamps for $10k or under. I would focus on something with a low output impedence that can drive any interconnects and amps (e.g., be careful of the otherwise very fine c-j ART and 16 in this regard) and with a reputation for build quality (e.g., VAC, CAT, BAT).
Also, and this anticipates your next thread, the very best solid-state preamps can layer sound and have a great midrange like good tube preamps, plus, they are almost always quieter, which can be extremely important in a revealing system. After years of playing this game, I settled on a top-shelf solid-state preamp (Rowland Coherence II). The top Lamm preamp and the preamp in the DCC2 are two more solid-state preamps (there are others) that are first-rate and within your budget.
