Trust your ears. I had the same quandary lately. I use Ice Power 1200AS2 based class D amp to drive my Canton Vento 896.2 floor standers with a Marantz receiver handling interim preamp duties. The Marantz does warm things up a bit, but I wanted to take things a bit further south of analytical.
I looked at stuff from PrimaLuna and Schiit. The EVO 100 preamp at $2K was still beyond my current budget and when I checked the used market, a mint Schiit Freya+ with an extra quad of tubes for $100 less than new, popped up, so I jumped on it. Still waiting on delivery.
The EVO 100 fits your budget or you could look at something the Freya+ level and spend some of the remainder on extra tubes to muck about with.
Mark
I looked at stuff from PrimaLuna and Schiit. The EVO 100 preamp at $2K was still beyond my current budget and when I checked the used market, a mint Schiit Freya+ with an extra quad of tubes for $100 less than new, popped up, so I jumped on it. Still waiting on delivery.
The EVO 100 fits your budget or you could look at something the Freya+ level and spend some of the remainder on extra tubes to muck about with.
Mark