I remember a Freya thread where a Freya owner also bought a Don Dachs Model 2 preamp and admitted that it was, in fact, a better preamp. He got a lot of grief for that... even though he praised the Freya’s performance. The most outspoken criticism came from someone who never owned or heard the Don Sachs preamp.
The short of it is that, after a certain point, they all sound pretty good...but you really gotta hear the components for yourselves.