Noise Specs

A very low noise floor and near-zero distortion are ideal for enjoyment of classical and acoustic music. Well-designed electronic audio gear will meet these criteria.

Here are noise-related specs for my gear, provided by the manufacturers.

Audio Research LS27 Class-A Vacuum Tube Line Preamp:

Noise: 1.3 uV RMS residual IHF weighted balanced, equivalent input noise with volume at 1 (100 dB below 2 V RMS output).

Distortion: Less than 0.01% at 2 V RMS BAL output.

Bryston BP17 Line Preamp (Sold):

Intermodulation Distortion SMPTE was 00.00163% (Left), 0.00169% (Right)

Unweighted S/N: -107.50 dB (L), -107.01 dB (R)

Bryston 14B-SST² Power Amp:

Intermodulation Distortion SMPTE was 00.00153% (Left), 0.00182% (Right)

Noise (20 Hz-20 KHz; dB below rated output): Balanced: -119 dB; Unbalanced: -114 dB

Bryston B100-SST Integrated (Sold):

Intermodulation Distortion SMPTE was 0.00433% (Left), 0.00483% (Right)

Noise (20 Hz-20 KHz; dB below rated output): Unbalanced: -100 dB

Bryston 4B-SST² Power Amp (Sold):

Intermodulation Distortion SMPTE was 0.00290% (Left), 0.00227% (Right)

Noise (20 Hz-20 KHz; dB below rated output): Bal: -113 dB 2V/100W; Unbal: -113 dB, 1V/100W

Bryston BHA-1 Headphone Amp:

Intermodulation Distortion SMPTE was 0.00093% (Left), 0.00156% (Right)

Unweighted S/N (0.5W @ 22 Hz-22 KHz; dB below rated output): -108 dB L/R

Bryston BCD-1 CD Player:

THD+noise: 0.002%

S/N: 115dB unweighted

Jitter <120ps pk-pk

Bryston BDA-1 DAC (Sold):

THD+noise: 0.002%

IMD: 0.002%

S/N: 140dB unweighted

Jitter: below meas capability of AP2700 analyzer

Bryston BDA-3:

THD+noise at 1kHz: 0.002%.

IMD (CCIF): 0.0003%

Signal/noise: 140dB.

Bryston BDP-1 Digital Music Player (Sold):

Jitter: <20ps 10Hz-10MHz

No analog output here; digital output to external DAC only.

Simaudio 310LP Phono Preamp:

THD (20-20KHz) <0.001%; IMD <0.009%