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

@arichison One other contender I would look at is a Rogue 99 Super Magnum on the used market. Make sure it is a Super Magnum, not just the stock, and not just the Magnum. The 99 on its own uses four 6SN7 tubes which are very fun to roll, as well as different gain settings in addition to the volume to best match with the rest of your system. The Super Magnum builds on this by adding Mundorf Supremes over the stock caps, Cardas solid copper connectors and Cardas wiring internally. IMO the best money you can spend on a preamp for $1500 or less.  

I agree with mesch, QS is quality gear, but Aric Audio should be your next consideration! Superb sounding preamps/line stages and unbeatable customer service is why the only piece of gear to remain on my rack after all other components have ben swapped in/out at least two times is, The Motherlode.

You cannot go wrong with the Quicksilver's, I have both the one with remote and the one without remote, both last versions. They both sound very good, I think the non remote has better imaging, but for a small margin. I mostly use the one with remote simply for the convenience.

@arichison  There is an Aric Audio 6sn7 tube pre being offered here on AG. I believe asking price is ~$1700. Aric offers great service on his products. I intend on having Aric upgrade my Special.

Schitt Freya preamp into a Pass Labs X-2A5 amp sounds interesting but it is a 5,000 dollar amp. I like the synergy that is mentioned. The most important point is this! Thomas says nothing is more important, I agree and most all of you do as well.