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Can tubes ever be as quiet Solid State

Recently I have had a major frame shift in my view regarding new production tubes which are getting to be pretty darned good over old tubes which still have marvelous sonic attributes but are often plagued by unwanted noises.This has resulted in my preferring certain current production over old stock more and more.
My question isn't are older tubes even NOS better than new production rather the question is are any tube systems able to match the noise floor of the quieter solid state amps? I was thinking in particular of gain stages in a phono stage. Opinions please
mechans

Showing 2 responses by paulfolbrecht

paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Shardorne, you are completely incorrect to state that tubed pres cannot match solid-state for quietness. S/N ratio is a VERY simple and straightforward measurement and there are many top tubed pres that beat all but the most expensive SS designs, and some of them trounce them all.

My Shindo Monbrison's S/N is better than 120 dB. The previously mentioned ModWright 36.5 is better than 130.

I would like to see a list of solid-state linestages with S/N higher than 130 dB.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Thanks for the clarification. Though tubes as gain devices may be inherently more noisy (as well as inherently more linear), the entire device (preamp) isn't necessarily.

I think it is probably true that below a certain price-point valve linestages are noiser in general than transistor. Don't even know that for sure tho.
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