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Can tubes ever be as quiet Solid State

Recently I have had a major frame shift in my view regarding new production tubes which are getting to be pretty darned good over old tubes which still have marvelous sonic attributes but are often plagued by unwanted noises.This has resulted in my preferring certain current production over old stock more and more.
My question isn't are older tubes even NOS better than new production rather the question is are any tube systems able to match the noise floor of the quieter solid state amps? I was thinking in particular of gain stages in a phono stage. Opinions please
mechans
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
>>06-12-08: Pbb
The days of NOS tubes are gone<<

That's crap.

There are thousands and thousands of NOS tubes available. So long as you are careful, know your seller, and look for high value tubes it's not a problem.

Faith has nothing to do with it.

You must do your homework.
dcstep
1,518 posts
 

06-11-08: Macrojack
"Rowland Capri SS preamp into Audio Mirror tubed power amps into Zu speakers turned up to 95 on the preamp scale causes a barely audible hiss with my ear about 2 inches away from the tweeter."

I've got the Rowland Continuum 500 SS integrated amp, where both the pre-amp (same circuit as the Carpir)and amplifier section (same as the Rowland 501s) both operate in DC. (Power Factor Correction converts any AC to 385V DC). I'm impressed that your tube amp gets so very close in terms of quietness. That's excellent. I hear about the same on my all-SS integrated.

BTW, I generally listen at a setting between 50 (when it's very quiet and I'm reading with music in the background) to 80-ish (when I'm trying to blow myself out of the listening seat with Mahler's 6th). At any of these levels I can't hear anything out of my tweeter.

Dave
vicdamone
850 posts
 
After all these years I've come to a love/hate relationship with tubes. My tubes now reside in the output stages of my front end gear, DAC and tuner. I gave up on the tube phono stages.

I still own a tube amplifier that gets use from time to time or more accurately less and less more out of it's inconvenience than anything else (it must be turned on and off). Pathetic, no?

Vic
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
Not so pathetic, Vic. I find myself factoring convenience into my planning more and more as I get older. I think it is a natural shift in priorities.

I bought the tube amps I have because they are self-biasing and the tubes are supposed to last for years. If there's much hassle, it isn't worth it.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Shardorne, you are completely incorrect to state that tubed pres cannot match solid-state for quietness. S/N ratio is a VERY simple and straightforward measurement and there are many top tubed pres that beat all but the most expensive SS designs, and some of them trounce them all.

My Shindo Monbrison's S/N is better than 120 dB. The previously mentioned ModWright 36.5 is better than 130.

I would like to see a list of solid-state linestages with S/N higher than 130 dB.
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