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

I’ve been using QS gear for years. That LS has a low output impedance and it will be fine with any amp. The gain is on the high side (18db). It is a no frills preamp with no balance or mono feature. If you don’t need those features then I doubt you would go wrong with the QS!

Specifications

whats ur budget?

ok, for under a grand:

above all, audio by van alstine transcendence 10 RB also known as T10. get it from frank van alstine for a grand, or get it used. fantastic headphone feature. i think theres one on fleabay fight now that the guy keeps relisting. you can prolly get it for a fair price. itll drive ur amp just fine. quality at this price point is off the chain. add a fantastic phono stage for $379 avahifi.com 

bottlehead moreplay or foreplay. everyone loves it. comes as a kit new but very budget used.  high output impedance by modern standards. dunno what amp to pair it with, but everyone likes this. i reckon will want an amp with very high input impedance, tho i dunno how much.

rogue audio. folks really dig the rogue audio tube preamps

used gear under $1000:

the clasic: a restored dynaco pas-3 or 3x. unmodded its a lil noisy, and youll need an amp with at least 100k in put impedance. a cheapo is adcom gfa 535. the good one is only gra-535. 

scott and fisher got some great tube pres with good phono sections. 

quicksilver but i cant remember the name Audible Illusions Modulus, but i think its hybrid.

Anthem PRE 1L right now on fleabay. IIRC these are "warm but good." 

bottlehead moreplay/fureplay

best of luck!
 

after rereading ur post, i suggest  audio by van alstine fet valve preamp. wont sound very tubey. the Transcendence 10 sounds a lil tubier. 

i have the fet valve RB, which has no features. nothing. just volume and selector. i dont really care about features, and oneof my other preamps has a bajillion in case i need any or feel like usin some. 

avahifi.com

a used conrad johnson PV8 or PV5 will give u classic, elegant tube sound. i have the 8, which is the odel that replaced the 5. the 8 is $1200, and the 5 usually goes for a little bit more. its the more desirable model and the more classic sound, tho the 8 is an upgrade in performance, noise, etc. now, it aint  a vintage tube sound but certainly a high class classic tube sound. 

erhard audio makes kickass tube preamps as well. 

I’ve had a lot of luck with the Icon Audio gear. Currently using an LA 4 in one system. They don’t get a lot of attention here and I’m not certain why. I would make certain whatever you get is tube rectified. I’m generally of the impression that a tube amp with SS rectification is more SS than tube - you are listening to wall power after all. Impedance needs to be considered as others have pointed out. Finally, with 90db sensitivity, I imagine you don’t need a lot of gain. Most preamps have too much gain in my opinion. Just like final amps, tube gain is not in the same category as SS gain - for reasons I’ll never understand. 9bd gain in a tube preamp should get you there. 

This is an easy one for me,... I had a SFL-1 for many years. It's a wonderful lineatage that mated & player extremely well with w/pretty much every amp I threw at it. I ran TAD, Hibachi monos, Perreaux & Classe' amps & it was (is) a very nice piece. I upgraded later to a Manley, Shrimp and that became the new high water mark in my kit. It's without a doubt among the best linestages you can grab under $2K - they are $4500 new today for the Jumbo Shrimp (remote) & couple other perceived upgrades. Tried many tubes and settled on vintage Mullards in the output slots. Glowing reviews all over the net so you can search it out but, I'd recommend finding a Manley Shrimp. They show up used every now and then. It took a $5K preamp falling in my lap to move me off the Manley. As a matter of fact, there are several things about the Shrimp I prefer over my current linestage. Can't go wrong with Manley products in general. Just my opinion.