As has been pointed out previously, tube designs are inherently noisier than solid state. Tube designs start out with that disadvantage. It may be possible that the top dollar preamps can overcome that disadvantage, but why spend all that money when solid state is available? The only thing a tube design will give you over SS is a higher level of distortion. Some people like it, but it's not accurate, i.e., it's not on the recording.
Bob_reynolds
Ever wonder why there are so many tube based microphone and guitar amps around? It may be a shock to you but there are sound engineers who use tubes in their gear mix. Harmonic content is important to some ears you know.