Budget preamp recommendation...besides Schiit.

1+ on the LA4. I have been saying this for almost a decade now. I got laughed out of the "Best Amp" thread for saying this a few years ago. Using the LA4 or (Holo Serene preamp) with really great gear is not a mismatch.

Cheap killer preamp? The Chinese Weiliang-made MBL 6010d clone is just that. Just be shure to give it some good sounding op-amps. 

BB OPA627 single op-amps + 4xTexas Instruments LME49720 dual op-amps makes this into a balanced giant-killer. Extremely open and dynamic, wery low noise. It dissapears like a good pre should do and to a price..

 I have 2 old but nice Phase Linear pre-amps. However I want a remote and the Emotiva pre-amp for $500 looks ok to me. A friend of mine has Emotiva amps and Gallo surround system in his acoustically treated room - sounds fantastic. 

Topping Pre90

@tunehead @kota1 

I agree with the Parasound 200 option. I ran the small form factor Parasound ZPre3 in my main rig for a while and was pretty impressed. For the money, I think hard to beat, and the 200 should be a step-up to that, but didn’t really need the options it provided over the ZPre. It’s now in my bedroom system after investing in my Belles Aria Signature Pre at about 7x the cost.