As mentioned above, tube rush is a fact of life with tube phono stages...to a greater or lesser extent. Even with matched NOS tubes, the amount of rush will depend on how much gain is applied to the tube.
When i hear folks say they have no or very little tube rush, that tells me that they are not listening to the speakers that close....or at very high levels. Push up the gain...and there comes the rush.
I have fought this battle for years, as my CAT preamp has had a number of different NOS tubes rolled into it..and there is always some tube rush...IF i listen very closely to the speakers. Not bothersome to me, and I do NOT hear it once the music is playing, but it has always made me question how much is actually lost in the presentation of the music vs. a ss device that is perfectly quiet ( if there is such a device)...vs how much is lost due to the beauty of tube phono stage reproduction vs. ss phono stage reproduction. I still way prefer tubes.
When i hear folks say they have no or very little tube rush, that tells me that they are not listening to the speakers that close....or at very high levels. Push up the gain...and there comes the rush.
I have fought this battle for years, as my CAT preamp has had a number of different NOS tubes rolled into it..and there is always some tube rush...IF i listen very closely to the speakers. Not bothersome to me, and I do NOT hear it once the music is playing, but it has always made me question how much is actually lost in the presentation of the music vs. a ss device that is perfectly quiet ( if there is such a device)...vs how much is lost due to the beauty of tube phono stage reproduction vs. ss phono stage reproduction. I still way prefer tubes.