Recommendation for tube preamp

I owned a BAT VK-5i ages ago; did not like it. It was also hell finding 6922 tubes quiet enough to use. Each time a 5i comes up for sale I’m gob-smacked to see its ask price close to what I paid 18 years ago. I’ve owned so much wonderful gear, far superior, that depreciates like a rock off a cliff and somehow this 5i still commands good money - makes no sense to me! If looking at BAT at least go for a 6H30 model - those are great preamp tubes. 6922 are a PITA. 

Had an older hybrid ARC preamp (think SP-9) in a shootout some years ago - it lost handily to every single Rogue preamp on hand (Metis, 99 Magnum, Athena). Etched and tonally lean. The Sonic Frontiers entry-level line stage fared equally poorly. The modern ARC preamps (Ref 6) are wonderful, like from a completely different world - but expensive! The Rogue Athena clobbered everything in that old shootout, and are in your price range when they come up - but the ones with the stepped attenuator aren’t the smoothest ergonomic experience.

Sometimes older VAC preamps come up in this range - probably a good option. Not sure I’m a huge fan of the modern Rogue RP-series preamps, but better than ancient ARC and BAT models.

Only buy equipment that you can audition at home.

That eliminates the vast majority of secondary markets, like audiogon. Besides, some of the best lessons come from mistakes. 

Thanks for the explanation, but I’m not sure I understand what a "passive equalization circuit" consists of.

It means resistors and capacitors. NO tubes, transistors, or integrated circuits that require a separate power rail to operate.

@jlbkmb1958  I’m not sure where you got the idea that a balanced phono stage requires solid state components - that’s the first time I’ve ever heard such an assertion. As already mentioned, there are examples of balanced tube phono stages with no solid-state components, and some have been around quite a while! What you will see, in some of those, is a Step-up Transformer to provide extra MC gain. That's another kind of passive component (inductor).

moto man. Did you find extra midrange coloration with the Ref 6? I preferred my MSB direct on trying both Ref6 and ref 6 se

Geez, Ref 6 is pretty uncolored and clean for a tube pre. 6H30 are generally the cleanest sounding tubes, and Ref 6 is an excellent implementation of them.

If you talk about solid state preamps, or direct-drive with DACs - they usually sound fairly sterile and dry to me. Not my kind of sound. Now if you insert a good SS pre / DAC volume control in front of a tube preamp, you will hear 99% the same sound as the tube pre alone. So yes they are generally very transparent and uncolored - but I don’t like the sound of them alone in most cases. You could take this as damning rebuke of tube preamps, but our systems & hearing mechanics are very complex, and I will choose the more enjoyable & engaging sound (for me) every time. Hearing & preferences clearly differ from audiophile to audiophile.