New Schiit Freya or used Conrad Johnson PV-10AL/BL, or?

Line 2CHT  was the one I got quoted a little more than the standard because of the HT bypass.The specs are:

includes the PS 2C power supply, tubes, line cord, and power interconnect cable. The Line 2CHT will have 3 line inputs, with Input 3 being your HT channels. The selector switch position next to Input 3 is labelled HT and it bypasses the Input 3 signal directly to the output jacks, of which there are two pair. You can power off the PS 2C when in HT mode. There is not a "REC" output on the HT model.

@kalali-- I just picked up a Freya a few days ago, mostly to try a balanced passive.  I've only been able to put a couple hours in it, but, FWIW, some very preliminary initial impressions, most echo what others have said.  It needs more burn time and more actual listening.

--the passive is better than the built-in volume control on a cheaper DAC (although it's supposed to be a decent volume control).  a little thin-sounding, comparatively, but transparent with very good detail.  like it just for the passive.  it hope it works as well for the better DAC when I swap it in later.

--the clicking for the volume control on the Freya is a bit disconcerting, at first, but that's how it's supposed to be.

--the difference in gain from passive to JFET to tube is very steep.  takes a few seconds to try to level out, if trying to compare.  also, i'd suggest not clicking from passive straight through to tube, if you were already cranking it in passive.

--I don't yet love the JFET.  Seems to add just a hair of glare and shoutiness.  Take that with a few grains of salt, though.  It's way too early with too limited gear to make a solid criticism of it.

--The tube output sounds ok, and adds some richness (and a tiny bit of noise) and loses a little bit of detail, but this is with just a few hours and on the fresh stock tubes.  It is not a very "tubey" sound.  Very, very neutral compared to most tube pres I've heard, particularly those that use 6sn7.  With time and/or with vintage tubes, I hope it comes "alive."  At this point, it will have a very long way to go, if one is hoping for an appreciable amount of tubeliciousness.

--is the switch on the back really the only way to turn this on and off?

Anyway, so far, I think it's a versatile cool piece.  Seems well constructed, but, of course, no billet aluminum, no multiple copper sub-chassis, no Porsche paint, etc.

Probably a completely different sound from the CJ.

I do wish it had a remote power  on/off.The remote It does volume & input selection.The Freya is in the Harmony Database which is nice.I also wish there was a way to turn the Tube section off when not used.They will eventually make some "Solid State Tubes" for this i read somewhere.They call the ones they make LISST Tubes (linear, integrated solid-state tube) .6BZ7 currently is the tube this will swap out for..in THEIR stuff.

kalali, 
If you wouldn't mind me tagging your post, I too would like some input on choosing a preamp for my Levinson no. 334. I currently have an aged Classe' cp60. I was considering the Schiit Freya or a used Ayre k5xemp. My source is an Ayre cx-7emp.

N

@axememan 
You should have been more patient. I have had 14 tube preamps thus far. Most of them are well regarded like Quicksilver, Belles, Cary, Rogue, etc. The Mapletree is easily in the top 5 of the bunch.
Maybe I need to try the Freya, a lot of chatter about them these days.