Which would you choose for good sounding tube preamp for an audiophile new to tubes.

after rereading ur post, i suggest  audio by van alstine fet valve preamp. wont sound very tubey. the Transcendence 10 sounds a lil tubier. 

i have the fet valve RB, which has no features. nothing. just volume and selector. i dont really care about features, and oneof my other preamps has a bajillion in case i need any or feel like usin some. 

avahifi.com

a used conrad johnson PV8 or PV5 will give u classic, elegant tube sound. i have the 8, which is the odel that replaced the 5. the 8 is $1200, and the 5 usually goes for a little bit more. its the more desirable model and the more classic sound, tho the 8 is an upgrade in performance, noise, etc. now, it aint  a vintage tube sound but certainly a high class classic tube sound. 

erhard audio makes kickass tube preamps as well. 

I’ve had a lot of luck with the Icon Audio gear. Currently using an LA 4 in one system. They don’t get a lot of attention here and I’m not certain why. I would make certain whatever you get is tube rectified. I’m generally of the impression that a tube amp with SS rectification is more SS than tube - you are listening to wall power after all. Impedance needs to be considered as others have pointed out. Finally, with 90db sensitivity, I imagine you don’t need a lot of gain. Most preamps have too much gain in my opinion. Just like final amps, tube gain is not in the same category as SS gain - for reasons I’ll never understand. 9bd gain in a tube preamp should get you there. 

This is an easy one for me,... I had a SFL-1 for many years. It's a wonderful lineatage that mated & player extremely well with w/pretty much every amp I threw at it. I ran TAD, Hibachi monos, Perreaux & Classe' amps & it was (is) a very nice piece. I upgraded later to a Manley, Shrimp and that became the new high water mark in my kit. It's without a doubt among the best linestages you can grab under $2K - they are $4500 new today for the Jumbo Shrimp (remote) & couple other perceived upgrades. Tried many tubes and settled on vintage Mullards in the output slots. Glowing reviews all over the net so you can search it out but, I'd recommend finding a Manley Shrimp. They show up used every now and then. It took a $5K preamp falling in my lap to move me off the Manley. As a matter of fact, there are several things about the Shrimp I prefer over my current linestage. Can't go wrong with Manley products in general. Just my opinion. 

I just ordered a Schiit Freya + based upon their rep and reviews.

Well I would think hard about the sonic frontier mainly because of  parts connection.  If you need anything  Chris Johnson  that owns parts connection used to own sonic frontier  and will look after any problems or needs you have. Excellent  service. Now on sonic frontier  if you could find a two instead of a one series  for a good price that would be neat. I have a friend with that one series lre and it is nice for sure. Also you might look for an older canary preamp as well. High quality  made in California  and highly underrated  never had any press in North America.  Either  make I am sure you will be getting  a quality  piece.