Maybe tube preamp

OP-If you can find one, a lightly used Dennis Had Inspire LP3a 6sn7 preamp usually comes in under $1k.  No bells or whistles, but it sounds great for the money.

On the Freya, I got one primarily to try a passive.  I think it's very good for the money and for the options...balanced, remote, etc.  The tube section is ok, but, like ghosthouse, I didn't immediately notice a BIG sonic difference with the tube stage. It's not as responsive to tube changes as some other pres.  It took awhile to find what I thought was a good tube match (warmer vintage tubes).  The tube output is a nice, immediate option at the push of a button.  But, imo, as strictly a tube pre, there are better for not much more $.  I also find it to be a little picky.  It actually sounds pretty good in one system with PSETs, but I temporarily moved it to another system with solid state monoblocks.  It sounds awful, there.  I don't think there is any gain/impedance problems to account for it.  Poor tone "synergy," probably.  I haven't taken the time to try switch tubes to try to get a better match, since, well, it's temporary.

Lots of good suggestions on this thread.  Folks also LOVE the LTA zotl.  Will be ordering one soon, primarily as a headphone amp, though.

My Freya shipped today so I won't have to wait long to see what's what. If it doesn't sound great it simply gets sent back. My experience with 6SN7s is mainly from that last several months of owning a "Fire Bottle" single ended amp that came with an Amperex USA 6SN7GTB (and sounds great)…the amp has only 4 tubes including the rectifier so it begs for tube experimentation. I bought another Amperex as a backup since I like the original one so much, and have a pair of Tung Sols (recent version) ready for the Freya since I had one already and bought another identical one…same test scores (!). The Amperex sounds better than the Tung Sol in my amp but not by too much. Both are very quiet and non microphonic. I can’t really say what the differences between 12AX7s and the 6SN7s might be as I haven’t had an amp that could swap ’em out…I had a pile of 12AX7s for my previous amp, a Jolida 502P, and recent version Gold Lions sounded best to me for that amp. I’ve also used 12AX7s in guitar amps since the 60s so there’s that…but guitar amps may be more forgiving anyway. It is interesting that the Schiit dudes love that 6SN7 tube so much, and the "octal" base is way more confidence inspiring when taking the tubes in and out of an amp than the easily bendable wires of a 12AX7…points just for that. I’d like to get a pair of 5692 "red base" (that's supposedly important) tubes just to check ’em out either in the Freya or the Fire Bottle as they seem interesting…pricey but cool.

@wolf_garcia a little surprised you went with a Freya over an Inspire pre to go with the HO.

The Inspire preamps aren’t remote controlled, and cost about twice as much as a Freya…I have heard of a remote version somebody talked Had into building recently so maybe in the future I’ll get one, but one thing about Inspire stuff is the utter randomness of Had’s builds and the "contact over Ebay" thing. It’s sort of like a club you join, and that’s OK. The Freya’s balanced design (my DAC has balanced outs), a hip volume control (so they say), and 3 operating modes appeal to me also, although my amp is single ended. I may change my mind and bug Had if the Freya doesn’t deliver the mojo I seem to want it to…next week it arrives so we shall see.

The Freya is also in the Harmony Universal remote Database so that is very Handy for those that use them[me].