Tube versus SS

@orpheus10 The Nature article linked above points out this:

"A noise reduction of this magnitude is usually only experienced briefly around Christmas, says Thomas Lecocq, a seismologist the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels,"

I’d expect other widely observed and region specific religious and secular holidays to track or exhibit similar patterns.

The "jivest" power supply is on the computer. I tried to figure out a way to improve that, but there just isn't enough room, can't be done.

That power supply has been improved by the improved incoming AC. I also down-load my LP's to hard drive. in this process, there is a "wall wart" to that device which has been improved by the cleaner AC.

I'm down-loading identical LP's with the same equipment I used before and getting big improvements on the new playback. When you think about all the industrial equipment; such as high voltage electric welders that can cause an instant drain on your grid, which would result in a blip on your AC line, that are now silent, you can begin to understand how your AC is better. It's only when all this noise is gone can you tell the difference.

When I referred to the Jacintha CD and the Dinah Washington LP, I was comparing the totally noiseless black background on both, and the "holographic" effect that's usually reserved for the upgraded analog and not the CD, but I had that on both CD and LP.

I could think of a lot better ways to spend my time than to down-load the same identical LP's with the same identical equipment, if I wasn't getting a remarkable improvement.

Think about it, those who can afford it got a low level power conditioner, a high level power conditioner, and another one specifically for the computer. Now that the AC from the wall is improved, you have them all from the wall.

Dear @orpheus10 : I live in México and I noted nothing about in these times. I own nothing at the level of @mikelavigne system power generator but a humble dedicated power line fully regulated with noise filters ( -100db. ) and my electronic designs are fully regulated input to output.

Anyway, the quality of AC makes a difference and exist different alternatives to deal with.

Btw, battery power supply for electronics is more marketing that true real advantage because battery power supply has its own problems and even needs capacitance and the like.

Problem is that electronics power supplys are not designed in the rigth and " perfect " way but when we have a good ( really good ) design is shows up its superiority to a battery one. It’s not an easy task to design a normal power supply as we can think.

A good example of a power supply was and is the one designed for the Levinson Reference 33 that even generates its own signal. No battery design can beats it and certainly no battery supply can gives us more dynamic than a good power supply design. One of the best electronic power supply designers I know is D.Reich founder of Classë Audio. Design and execution to that power supply is the name of the game and believe me there are only a few designers that are up to the task. State of the art power supply are only a few and are really state of the art and are so good that a battery can’t compete on noise levels.
The other issue is that transistors or tubes are not looking for battery power supply: marketing that's all.

We make those tests with our self designed and manufactured phonolinepreamp that even today competes with Dartzeel, CH or any other SS units.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

AC quality did not change with the Covid-19.  Come on?  More people would be drawing AC if that was the observation.  If you build a component power supply that in effect cleans or lowers the noise from AC then that would be a plus (we do that) in our components which can be as simple as an AC filter choke to begin with.  If you don't hear a difference between your SS & tube equipment all that probably means is that the design quality is similar (or something like that).  Does your tube unit have tube regulation, tube rectification?  Like Rauliruegas above, our DAC has a 30 pound power supply with filter chokes, copper plates just to get started to lower the noise floor.  Happy Listening.

Even though I can't hear as well as some, (old age) I listen better than most. While I live in a quiet neighborhood, I can tell there must be commercial activities beyond my neighborhood that affect our "grid"; it could be a lot larger than I think it is.

I have no idea how large an area comprises a "grid", I only know what I hear and when I hear it. I recall one New Years Eve when it was 6 degrees below 0 and a foot of snow was on the ground. My bedroom rig, which is not expensive, was sounding extra special; as a matter of fact I stayed up all night listening to it, that's how good it was sounding; that was no delusion.

Since forever people have remarked how much better music sounded on Sunday. Like most people I attributed that to the quiet restful mood most people are in on Sunday. However, when you observe all the times "they say" music sounds better, it also corresponds with the time that commercial and industrial activity is closed.

Audiophiles know what makes expensive gear expensive is primarily the power supply; the capacitors alone can cost a small fortune. All that money goes into turning AC into quiet DC. The electric company even spends a small fortune trying to give you constant 60 cycles per second but this is also constantly varying slightly do to activity on your grid. Now if everything I have described is under normal circumstances, just imagine what a difference it's made under present circumstances with so many things shut down.