Looking to completely overhaul my preamp section, knowledgeable people needed!

Awesome replies! So I'll hit a few points:

Those products I was considering were definitely just preliminary options (having not heard any of them). I wanted to get a conversation, like this one, going to help generate ideas since I was kind of having a hard time narrowing it down.

As far as sources go, I'm currently streaming spotify via my xbox one s as my primary digital front end, and running a Pro-Ject RPM3 with a Sumiko pearl for my analog source. In the future I definitely plan on upgrading to a MC cart, so a built in phono would be nice (but not a necessity). MQA is also nice, however for all my high res digital, I just pull local files straight from my NAS.

If you had any other suggestions *like* the Mytek in the same price range, I'd love to hear them. The more options, the better chance I'll have to demo one. The gist is that I'd basically like a preamp with the similar features to the Parasound, but higher sound quality.

Ugh decisions decisions... See this is exactly why I needed help! lol

I'm starting to like the idea of the Schiit Freya, however, AVlee turned me to the idea of a Emotiva XSP-1. On reading some reviews, it seems that the Emotiva sounds excellent and offers quite a bit of bang for the buck. I know they're totally different beasts, but I wonder how each would sound in my system. Lots of people like to hate on Emotiva, but it seems like they put solid engineering principles into their products. Given the choice between a Freya+Gungnir MB and an XSP-1+Gungnir MB, what would everyone pick? Does anyone know if the Freya is truly balanced or if a bal->SE conversion happens?

Also, the Adcom has treated me very well but unfortunately its next on the chopping block. I'd recommend it to anyone starting out though, as I once was. Super clean sound with a strong low end, maybe a bit of grain on the top end though.

So first Auxinput, I took a look at some of those Audio-GD offerings and they look pretty great with really good measurements. Have you heard any of their products? Also, in general their product lines are a little confusing.

Stfoth, would you mind throwing together a short pros vs cons list for the Emotiva vs the Freya? It's an awesome coincidence that you happen to have both and it would be super helpful to get your take on them. I'm not a diehard tube guy (yet) but like the idea of being able to switch between passive and tube stages. I don't really need most of the features of the Emotiva per se, I'm *primarily* concerned with the sound quality.

To anyone still following this thread, or someone with the same intentions as me, I wound up going with the (less expensive) Schiit Freya+Gungnir, and saved some money to put into an eventual amp upgrade. I'm happy with this decision as it allows me to upgrade my amp on a more reasonable time frame, for the price of a better preamp. Both the Gungnir and the Freya are massive upgrades from what I previously had, particularly in the stereo separation department as well as in overall detail and 'color'. It really is incredible the difference and I'm looking forward to seeing how much better a new amp will sound.

One thing I would absolutely recommend is to swap out the stock tubes ASAP. I used some of the money I had saved to purchase a matched quad of Tung Sol red base tubes and this yielded a very large sound quality increase. If you do go this route, make sure to listen to the stock tubes for a few hours, get a feel for them, then switch to the Tung Sols for a surprise ;)

At risk of sounding cliche, the Tung Sols really gave a nice 'holographic' effect and made the soundstage appear deeper. It is also a very quiet tube stage, with the hiss barely audible from an 8 foot listening position.

I also seriously considered an AudioGD piece for a very long time before making the decision and they look to be an excellent company with strong design principles, and I hope to hear one some day. Thanks for all the help everyone!