Tubed Preamp recommendations?

AUDIO HUNGARY APR 204 (2K) - I own it and love it. It even has a tubed (6922’s) phono pre and an ok headphone jack. Hand made in Hungary and comes with 6 NOS Tungsram (4 x ECC83/12AX7; 2 x E88CC/6922) tubes.

Audio Hungary’s cheapest component and a 2K bargain. Amazing pre!

+1 for Linear Tube Audio MicroZOTL if you buy new. I use mine as a headphone amp. It is excellent. And if you buy used +1 Audible Illusions L3A.
I use my AI in my main system and TAS for years refers to it as “best at any price!”.

+1 for Don Sachs' preamps.

You might find a used Model 1 that would fit  within your budget?

You can sync it to the rest of your system through judicious use of tube rolling... 

You can't beat the hand made preamps like Aric audio or space tech labs for sound quality in your price range, you would have to spend a lot more on mainstream preamps to beat them.

I had a Freya not the plus.  I thought it was noisy even with XLR cables.  To me the sound was a bit grainy.  But for the price it gets you into tubes and it gave me no trouble.  I liked the remote, it worked will and when I lost mine it was cheap to replace. As stated it is close to entry level. I have a Decware CSP3, not the anniversary edition, it has some cap upgrades.  It is single ended only but wow in another league in terms of smooth and silky, great harmonics.  It was however also noisy.  I sold the Freya and replaced it with an Allnic L-3000 which is above your price point but also in another nother league and dead quiet.  I can't bring myself to sell the Decware it was so good.  The Decware responded much better to tube rolling than the Freya.