Phono Preamp Tube Rush

If you prefer tubes and have a low output moving coil it is best to use a solid state phono pre and employ tubes in the downstream electronics.  My recommendation would be to go with Nagra BPS.  It has high enough gain for low output MCs, runs off a 9 volt battery, is dead quiet and sounds fantastic.

dhcod, It would take a severely defective tube to cause a 25% decrease in sound quality. 

That would completely depend on what a person enjoys in their listening and their associated equipment. Maybe I was being a bit hyperbolic but I just wasn't enjoying the sound nearly as much.

Anyone here actually own a tube phono stage that is so quiet that when you place your ear right up against the speaker and the phono stage is active...and at some mild gain, but with no music playing ( or even at no gain) they hear absolutely no tube noise/rush ( dead silence)...I doubt it.

Again I agree with @daveyf , you can hear tube rush noise on any tube phono stage with just a slight bit of effort (or no effort, depending on the unit). It’s there. Yes the Herron VTPH-2A is very very low noise, one of the lowest I’ve heard - still there. And low noise tube selection is a must, but there’s no magical premium-platinum-plus selection that’s going to make it go away completely. It’s an issue of gain - a LOT of it is needed to amplify cartridge signals.

That said, for my ears, when you get to the low noise level of a VTPH-2A or my VAC phono, it’s low enough to not bother about, since groove noise will take over from there.

On the other hand, hum and buzz from grounding issues are positively insanity-inducing until resolved.

I've also had the experience that some NOS tubes can make for a substantial increase of enjoyment over new production, despite the increased difficultly of finding super low-noise examples. 

@daveyf and @mulveling
Agree 100%.  Can't avoid tube rush even with the best of tube phono stages.  It is very faintly there.  Whether you actually hear it will depend on how low output your MC cart is (and thus how much gain you need).