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

We would love to share our thoughts but need what your budget would be.

Be careful to impedance match a SS amp and tube preamp. Tube preamps typically have higher output impedance than SS which could raise distortion levels if SS amp has lower input impedance. Amps with only 10kohm input impedance may not be a good match. 40kohm or higher amp input impedance is better. 100kohm or higher input impedance is not uncommon with amps designed to work well with most tube preamps. Not just any amp will do no matter how good otherwise. Some SS amps are designed for use with tube preamps and many others are not. I see that amp input impedance spec is 33.2 kohm. Not likely designed for general use with tube preamps but might be OK. You’d have to try and maybe compare to others to know how well it works. If it were me I would probably lean towards sticking with a good SS preamp with that amp. Value of adding tubes will be compromised if components do not integrate well no matter how good either piece may be.  Synergy between components is the key to great as opposed to ok sound. 

I used to have a B&K 2220 (and other B&Ks) that I ran with a 1990s Conrad Johnson preamp and a newer Jolida tube preamp and it sounded great with both I thought, but the newer Jolida was better and they are pretty cheap. I also ran a Classe' solid state preamp with it and I preferred the tube preamps with the B&K amps. I grew up with B&K power amps, I really like them.

I thought the music sounded 'fuller' with a tube preamp and it slams just as hard but more musically, imo. I like the tube preamp SS power amp setup. Good luck! 

The impedance mismatch between a tube preamp and solid state preamp can be very real. If you look closely at all the audio research tube preamps for example they usually don't match well with solid state amplifiers regarding minimum input impedance. For that reason on a whim I tried the PS audio BHK preamp which has a robust low impedance solid state output and a tube input stage and I'm really happy with that choice. I think this preamp is out of your price range but I would be hesitant to match a tube preamp with a solid state amplifier unless you met the impedance specifications of both components.

The reason I say Quicksilver is because their stuff is all point to point wired.

Not the LINESTAGE preamp.

Mike