EAR 834P vs Plinius Jarrah anyone compare the two?

As far as the tube noise goes, it depends on what level of gain you need. Higher gain, higher noise floor. Unless you have an amazing(and expensive) tube phono unit. So why do we use tube phono sections? They sound good. The EAR is a good tube unit. Haven't any experience with the Plinius Jarrah, but people say it is very good. If you don't change cartridges often, you might take a look at the Tom Evans Design Group Microgroove. They will configure it to your cartridge specs at the factory. Very good SS item. The downside is that if you change cartridges, you have to send it back to the factory in England to get it re-configured for your new cartridge.

I own an 834P, which I use with a 1mV Grado Reference on a Well Tempered Reference table. Prior to that I used a Van den Hul Grasshopper with an output of .6mV. With both I've used the moving coil stage and this preamp is very quiet. Prior to the EAR I used a Sonic Frontiers SFP-1, which was also very quiet. I have heard tube phono stages that were a bit noisy and this is not one of them. Personally I would not give it a second thought. The EAR is one of the finest phono stages available and a bargain to boot. That said, I have not heard the Plinius so cannot comment on it. I have owned many solid state preamps over the years including Classe and Rowland and have found tubes to be generally more musical. Naturally, if there is a way for you to try each in your system that would be best. Everyone has different tastes and only you can be the judge of what you like best. All of this stuff is good, just different. I don't know about Plinius, but you can order the EAR from Audio Advisor and have 30 days to return it if not satisfied. It's a small item so shipping won't cost too much. I'm sure there is a Plinius dealer who will offer the same trial period for only shipping costs. If you can get them side by side that would be the way to go. Enjoy!