Maybe tube preamp

I do not know,but,Mike Moffet at Schiit says" I need to clarify that I am not a fan of 12A(any)7 tubes. The 12AU has bad curves, and although I have never used it the 12AT also suffers from curves far worse than the 6SN7/5692. The main application for 12AT7 tubes is audio circuits in shortwave transmitters and receivers where audio non-linearity and punch help intelligibility over weak, noisy, signals. For line level (not phono) tubes, the 6SN7 family just rules. 6DJ8 and 5670 are quieter, but this is useful for phono apps."

PS - wish I’d added this to my earlier post.

I am NOT saying there is anything wrong with Freya’s sound using quiet 6SN7 tubes (new production TungSols seem popular on HeadFi). Just that, for me, if I don’t need the gain that tubes provide, I am very happy with the sound when running it in JFET buffer mode. Other than the gain, I’ve not yet heard a huge sonic advantage using tubes. Small differences, yes, maybe. Again, that’s with the tubes I’ve tried. I also want to stress folks over on HeadFi are reporting much bigger changes going to tubes from passive mode and seem to strongly prefer tube mode.  Okay...done now.

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.