The language of amplifiers is often spoken using terms like noise, harmonics, load, phase, bandwidth and more. From the perspective of an amplifier designer, the discussion of noise is paramount. Noise affects all segments of a circuit and can generate from many different sources.The Hifi Podcast's own amplifier design wizard Darren takes us back into noise land to look at the different types of noise coming from different places in the circuitry, and explains which types are more benign than others.Noise from a record, for example, can be much more noticeable at first, but seem to disappear when the music plays. Not so with input stage noise, for example, or even ripple from a gain stage with limited PSRR.Also in this episode, the guys answer some questions about tube amps, the use of a variac and whether 4 Ohm or 8 Ohm taps sound better on an 8 Ohm pair of speakers.This week's album recommendation is incredible, and features a few-take, casual-but-tight live trio set from a group produced by, but not fronted by the one and only Charlie Hunter.