Phono/preamp/amp chain. One of them tube the others SS. Which one?

I agree with the statement about human ear. There is enough of the tape hiss when I am listening to my Nak cassette deck and yet you can hear a lot into the noise.
Atmasphere, this is an important point, thank you.

Once again Ralph makes a good point. I have Zu speakers that love tubes. They are fast and immediate for sure, and run tubes all the way through. BAT-Zesto-Mac MC 60s and believe it or not there isn't a euphonic excess to be had. So IMO the speakers determine how much tubiness will come through to a large extent. 

Late to the party ... tube power amp (Prima Luna PL 5) ... SS preamp (Musical Fidelity CD PRE 24) ... SS phono preamp (Schitt Mani) ... Opera Platea Floorstanders.  I sometimes swap in Ascend Acoustic Sierra One monitors.  

For the longest time I used EL 34s and 6CA7s, which were great for CDs, but when I added a turntable I found myself wanting more bass, possibly oomph, and switched to KT90s.  

The turntable set-up is a Stanton ST 150 paired with a Sumiko Pearl cartridge.  My only gripe with the Stanton and it is an 'in my head' gripe is that the turntable's built in preamp hums at high volumes, which are way higher volumes than any level I would normally play at. 

I get just enough tube sound in this set-up.


Rich 

Atma-Sphere MP3 or MP1 if you can swing it with a built in Phono--Upgrades to Vcap and Caddoc resistor package. This sort of setup tends to get people off the Merry-Go-Round. The Phono is dead quiet, the pre-amp is very musical and transparent. With Speed, Dynamics and a tonal balance to satisfy.

Well, it does appear that tube phono would be overall the best first move. In my particular case, I would go with only top level phono - Lamm, VAC, Atma-Sphere, CAT, maybe Herron etc. Worth the wait and patience. Then I would probably upgrade my integrated to one of the better integrateds, and then - separates, tube preamp and tube/ss/hybrid amp depending on speakers and the entire system. So, the path seems quite clear.