In your price range, Schiit audio is worth consideration. The thing that I hear time and again about Chinese gear is that when you buy it, you own it, they reputedly have lousy service. Remember, that’s hearsay, I can’t say that I know. The Freya is a good for the money preamp, but it’s colored. To get good tone you need Ken Rad tubes, but they are flat, so you will need OLD Raytheon’s for a really good soundstage, though depth I never really got out of mine, and I spent a ton on NOS tubes. Far, and I do mean far better is the DS2, Don Sachs has taken Roy Muttram’s SP14 and blown iy up, he has gotten the DC quiet, that’s what usually obscures low level detail. From there it depends, I don’t know how efficient you’re speakers are. If 60 to 80WPC can drive them to levels that you are comfortable with, then stay with tubes, if not, the Schiit Vidar is likely a good choice, but that’s hearsay. If you can live with 60 to 80wpc, than tubes are definitely the way to go. Now the question is do you want to get a lifetime amp, or a stepping stone amp. Bob Latino sells a very nice tube amp, an ST-120, but get the Octal driver board Roy Muttram sells, Bob works with Roy, so he can get it and build it if you are uncomfortable with kits. 6SN7’s rule and will sound WAY better than the stock driver board. If you want to stick a fork in your amplification hunt, get Don Sachs’ KT88 based amp. He started out with a Latino kit, though it was a slight variant, a prototype Roy Muttram was designing. Anyway, Don was so impressed that he modded the basic kit into a crazy good amp. I bought a different prototype from Roy myself, but it really couldn’t drive KT88s, and had other issues, so I upgraded to many of the same parts Don uses, but I wish I had just purchased Don’s amp, I thought I could save a few dollars with the lesser amp, but it wasn’t for me. Don’t get me wrong, everyone who heard it was amazed, but I knew it could sound better. Some have suggested Primaluna, I have a Prologue Five. The Roy Muttram amp absolutely smoked it, not even in the same league. If you really want to go inexpensive I have a Freya and the Prologue Five, I intend to sell both, but haven’t gotten around to posting them, but if you want them, I am sure we can come to terms, I can post them, Audigon is hosting this after all and supporting them is the right thing to do, besides, it costs me to post, not you. I’d highly recommend that you save a ton of money chasing rainbows, bite the bullet and buy from Don Sachs, but obviously it’s your call! He is the best bang for the bucks that you are going to find if you want high end quality, Bob Latino’s gear isn’t junk by any stretch of the imagination either though. If you want to save on the preamp, Roy Muttram will build an SP14 for you, and he can also do a few upgrades that will help it sound a little more like a DS2. Here is a review of the ST120, but this isn’t even using the much better sounding Octal driver which with the right tubes, will smoke the stock driver board.
http://dynacotubeaudio.forumotion.com/t1930-comparing-my-vta-st-120-with-my-mcintosh-mc275
Don, Bob, and Roy who designed everything except for Don’s gear, which is primarily based upon Roy’s designs, make crazy good equipment for far less than you would pay if it were not being sold directly. If you go with Roy’s preamp get your 6SN7 tubes from him. If you decide to go really inexpensive with an ST-70, again, go with the 6SN7 driver board, and get Genalex Gold Loin KT77s, it can’t drive KT88s, not properly they will be biased to low, but the KT77s actually have a little kick to them, most EL34 type tubes have no bass, but the Gold Lions are not bad, they aren’t properly biased Gold Lion KT88s, but they are as close as any EL34 family tube as I have ever heard! Don's amp comes with auto bias, but if you get one of the other Roy Muttram amps, from him or Bob, get the auto-bias! Good luck, and happy hunting!
http://dynacotubeaudio.forumotion.com/t1930-comparing-my-vta-st-120-with-my-mcintosh-mc275
Don, Bob, and Roy who designed everything except for Don’s gear, which is primarily based upon Roy’s designs, make crazy good equipment for far less than you would pay if it were not being sold directly. If you go with Roy’s preamp get your 6SN7 tubes from him. If you decide to go really inexpensive with an ST-70, again, go with the 6SN7 driver board, and get Genalex Gold Loin KT77s, it can’t drive KT88s, not properly they will be biased to low, but the KT77s actually have a little kick to them, most EL34 type tubes have no bass, but the Gold Lions are not bad, they aren’t properly biased Gold Lion KT88s, but they are as close as any EL34 family tube as I have ever heard! Don's amp comes with auto bias, but if you get one of the other Roy Muttram amps, from him or Bob, get the auto-bias! Good luck, and happy hunting!