2 vs 8 tubes in preamp, sound difference?

OP… I am really sorry to hear this. One of the most inspirational things I did over the years was to visit high end audio stores and listen to their best system. It helps give you a sense of what is possible. My partner is disabled and can’t often leave the house. I am lucky to have been able to build her an incredible home theater… which is her thing.

Schiit is really good sounding stuff. I have a few pieces myself.

So hoping to improve sonic bliss with a better pre vs schiit freya. 
if schiit is so good why are others sooooo expensive. 

Just a thought, have you perused your other preamp threads to see if your last question was already answered?

Maybe this one in particular?  Similiar theme

Why would more of any component be presumed to sound better?

Its possible for anything to be too simple to do its job. For example, if there is only a single tube in a line section, you might have a fairly high output impedance, which will be exacerbated by the output coupling capacitor (even higher output impedance at bass frequencies). This can have a big effect on your results in particular if you want to drive a particular solid state power amp or if you need to drive a longer interconnect cable.