09-09-09: Jylee
Tvad, I know you are trying to help, but have you really heard all tube preamps?
No I haven't, but I did not claim I had. I stated, "I know of no tube preamp..."
I have owned or heard in my system many very quiet tube preamps: First Sound Presence Deluxe II, Modwright 9.0SE, Audio Horizons TP2.1, Lamm L2 Reference, Atma-Sphere MP-3 MK III, Juicy Music Peach, Lamm LL2 Deluxe. All of these are fairly quiet, but the all make some degree of hiss.
The noise floor of VTL seems to be around -110dB with 1V signal.
-110dB in phenomenally low. About as good as you can get. Are you certain of this spec? How did you arrive at this figure?