Best Used Tube Based Preamp $2k Or Under?

@durkn VAC is an endgame Preamp for sure. My dream stereo I would own a VAC. Way out of my league.

A really great sounding and quite cost-effective choice would be a used Linear Tube Audio MZ2 preamp/headphone amp (also a 1 watt amp as well).  Uses two 6SN7s (or 12SN7s) and two 12au7s or 12AT7s.  Would cost $1,00 to $1200 with remote volume.  Might be able to find a used MZ3 for $2,000.

@nightfall 

Audio Research LS17SE

There are some out there now and they have great resale potential so if you can get one at $2k, you could always sell if you changed your mind

@nightfall 

The Supratek preamps do have remote control volume and there is a US tech for repairs or upgrades.  I bought mine used on USAM and have had no issues with it.  There are also plenty of owners on A’gon for questions.  It’s a remarkable value for the money.  

For what it’s worth, I had an Audio Research SP-16 and a brand new Schiit Freya + for about 3 months. I did some critical listening and some tube rolling with both. I ended up selling the Audio Research. The 6sn7 tubes were just better to my ears. And when tube rolling, the 6sn7’s made a huge difference in sound. I ended up with 2 NOS GE’s in the buffer stage and NOS Ken rads in the gain stage. A sweet Lucious tube sound. Plus it had XLR’s out for my Krell amp. The Audio Research sounded decent but it was single ended, and new production tubes versus NOS tubes didn’t really make a major difference in sound.