Most Quiet TUBE Preamp. Linestage. $ 12K or less

I use an Atma-Sphere MP-1 mk III and with a good set of new tubes it is silent. I'm listening through Soundlab A-1 PX panels. Any input and any volume level, including the phono, is perfect. As the tubes age you will begin to hear tube hiss but generally the tubes are close to failing at this point.

I have a BAT VK-3iXSE that is dead quiet right now. I've got the volume turned all the way up and I can't hear a thing even with my ear right up to the speaker....dead silent!!

Oh, I forgot to turn the amp on, never mind. :)

Happy New Year AudiogoN'ers!

John

The very finest solid-state line stages, such as the Rowland Coherence II and the Blowtorch, layer space as well as any tube line stage, are just as musical and beat them on noise. With your budget, you do not need to do a tube preamp (or put another way, if you have a lot of money to throw at a preamp, my experience is that the very best solid-state units are the way to go, a fortiori with respect to phono stages because of the impact of noise where a weak signal is being amplified).

My ARC LS25mk2 is dead quiet.

How about the TRON Syren. Ok it contains a fantastic phono stage too, but it is deadly quiet. On line sources, I can crank up the volume to full with my Avantgarde Duos and get virtual silence. There is one for sale at Definitive Audio in the UK for GBP4.5k.