I offer this as a description of MY Syrah. Others may have different experiences. Mine is an older unit without master gain selection and line stage gain switches. The wonderful, and I mean wonderful, phono stage will handle any cartrdige output. The preamp will drive any amps but some of the newer high gain amps may not be compatible, IMO. In those cases volume control would be very difficult, meaning that a miniscule change in the volume control would make a huge difference in volume. The line stage in my preamp uses 6SN7 tubes. If you go with a Syrah with this tube compliment I'd recommend getting gauranteed dead quiet tubes from a reputable tube vendor. Since the phono stage is also very high gain to work with any cartridge I've found the expensive WE 417a's to be the quietest and best sounding. I really think that the rest of the tubes could be the stock ones and I'd be very happy. To clarify further, If one was using horn loaded speakers with super high efficiency then I think noise would be an issue. My speakers are 88 db at 4 ohm and I don't perceive the noise at anywhere near normal listening levels....85 db or so. But, if I'm cranking it up to around 90 db which I do often then without the needle in the groove I can hear a little noise. I do not have that experience listening to the line stage with a pretty well unknown to me pair of 6SN7's. These are NOS 60's gold pin Radio Shack tubes. Iv'e been advised that they are likely Japanese. They are very quiet and quite nice. Some things audio are still difficult for me to wrap my brain around. A perfect example is that I've mentioned I generally don't have an issue with the circuit noise I'm talking about. But, whenever I've reduced this noise I certainly experience more detail and more realism in the presentation. It's kind of like the super tweeter thing. Alone, you can't hear it but when operated with the speakers it does make a significant difference. In time I'm sure that a preamp that is absolutely dead quiet would become a goal of mine because of what I term maximum resolution. That point would be at my next speaker/amp upgrade which I will probably not do. Things are just so musical as they are now and lesser recordings are a real joy not to mention how wonderful audiophile grade software is. Living in the world of tubes is a blessing but like analog it requires some work on your part to make the most of it. The tubes I mentioned earlier have about a ten to fifteen year life expectency and therfore are a cheap investment. I spent around $300 for the best WE's, Raytheon 6GK5's and a Mullard '67 5AR4/GZ34 all NOS and gauranteed. I didn't flinch and am happy I purchased them. With patience I will get this thing as quiet as I want. Tubes generally aren't plug and play and be happy forever. Also, please keep in mind my comment about dedicated lines. I should find out this weekend if that is the cure. It certainly can't hurt and it's long overdue. I'm also sure that Mick has made major upgrades that are available now if you order one. New or used I'd buy one with a phono stage even if you don't use it. Should you want to part with it later it will be a much easier sale. The used one mentioned earlier would be a great buy since if you didn't like it you could get your investment back easily. It's priced very fair in my opinion. I sure hope this helps you and I didn't confuse the issue.
