Term: Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) 

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A measurement comparing the level of a signal to the level of the background noise. In a microphone preamplifier, the noise floor would be the self-noise of the amplifier circuit and the signal to noise would be the difference in decibels between the noise floor and the nominal output level of +4 dBu. A respectable SNR for a modern mic preamp is around 90 dB.