How important is S/N Ratio....?

So the consensus so far is......

Signal to Noise ratio.....is meaningless...inconsequetial to the sound of your amplifier...

Sorry I don't buy it...true there might be ten ways to measure it....so confusion abounds....but when a lower S/N level can be quantified.....it has to have a relation to actual levels of distortion present....

Wether the cart goes before the horse or viceversa.....I hear a difference especially in the Amplifier componet.

hmmmm... Well building an amplifier with exceptional Signal to Noise ratio will mean super stiff power supplies and better components. So I expect the sound will be much better in such a component.
PS. I can't hear any noise in my system when I press my ears up to the speakers between track change. So I guess this is good news. But I use active ATC speakers with Bel Canto DAC3 with everything connected to a PS audio PPP so that might be expected.

but when a lower S/N level can be quantified.....it has to have a relation to actual levels of distortion present....

Agreed but I think several replies here are simply trying to say that the link is not as strong as you suggest. Otherwise people with analog gear (vinyl or tape) would be very unhappy - and they are not! Distortion and Signal to Noise can be separate issues and don't have to be related. You can have one bad and the other good and vice versa. Of course in excellent gear both will be good.

Shadorne.....

"Agreed but I think several replies here are simply trying to say that the link is not as strong as you suggest. Otherwise people with analog gear (vinyl or tape) would be very unhappy - and they are not! Distortion and Signal to Noise can be separate issues and don't have to be related. You can have one bad and the other good and vice versa. Of course in excellent gear both will be good."

Interesting as tape has a very large bandwith.....I really can't say about vinyl as I moved to digital source long ago and have never thought about going back......

Of course I am talking about the high upper end here....as the build quality of the componets and circuit design...seperate the levels of sound performance.

Well let me ask you then......what are 3 qualities of a amplifier that combines both excellant thd and S/N levels...

Well noise in coming from Vinyl is a part of the playback which I think is totally different from the noise generated from an amplifier. Noise coming from the playback of analog sources is inherent to the technology itself, where physical contact is required. However, the noise from an amplifier is more like a flawed power supply and interference issue.