Constant noisy tubes maybe go solid state?

In my experience, current-production tubes have been far, far more reliable than old-stock (new or not). This has primarily been with Russian Tung-sol and Gold Lion tubes, which are both the sort of mid-to-upper range of current production. I don't expect that the lower cost JJ, EH, or basic Shuguang would necessarily be as consistent. Having gone through hundreds of tubes in untested batches, it is exceedingly rare that these new tubes will exhibit electrical noise and even more rare for them to fail. 

Also having gone through hundreds of old-stock tubes in tested and untested lots, I can say that it is much more effort to find tubes that meet my standards for low noise and microphonics, especially if I'm looking for a pair. There is also a higher likelihood of a tube testing well and developing noise after it's been shipped. Having the tubes pre-tested by the vendor sometimes helps reduce the instances of noise, but sometimes it doesn't make a difference. My testing procedure is: external burn-in period > Maximatcher testing > in circuit listening test #1 > in circuit burn-in period > in circuit listening test #2.

While certain old-stock tubes can certainly sound great and often sound better than new-production, I find that Gold Lion and other brands sound excellent and allow much less worry about noise, so I'm on the same page as millercarbon . 

When you're buying a new amp, would you prefer the manufacturer use current production tubes as stock, significantly reducing the chance of tube noise in your new purchase, or would you prefer the manufacturer try to install old-stock tubes, though it's more likely that you'll have to deal with a noise issue?

I assume the tubes have not always had issues?  Did anything change in your environment lately?  Thuderstorm?  Electrical work?  High or low voltage?  AC socket grounding issues.
Many things can cause this.  Take your preamp to a different room, or better yet to your dealer, hook it up and see if it is a hardware problem or enivormental. Process of elimination will nail it down.

Tubes are funky devices and as soon as they are powered up they start wearing themselves out as mentioned by a well known audio company.
I don't use tubes right now because the new tube stuff sounds too much like good solid state and I sure wouldn't use tubes in a surround sound application.
If you do use tubes the most important thing is who you source them from but I still look forward to buying a tube preamp again for the use in my two channel stereo.

I have had tube phono preamps, main preamps and main amps for about 3 years totaling 9 models.  I progressively have had a quieter system with simply faint white noise audible from the speakers in the earlier models.  As I have reached my current higher end models, the noise is gone.  This was one of the benefits mentioned for my ARC gear both from individuals and official reviews.  

When I had some output tubes going out I also had a little of this similar noise increasing.  It was a bit inconsistent during this event where I would hear a faint whoosh sound.

It sounds like an odd run of bad luck you have had and makes me wonder if there is an issue with your gear.  Have you ever considered having the tubes tested?  I live in Memphis and The Tube Depot normally tests preamp tubes for $2 each.  I actually talked to them yesterday and their tester can even estimate remaining life.  They have stopped receiving tubes due to the damn virus, but hope to resume soon.  Whether them or any of the other companies out there...it would be good info to have.

Tube sound is glorious....don't give up!!

@dhite71

Does a faint white noise degrade the sound somehow particularly if its barely audible without putting your ear to the driver?