I honestly can't remember what they told me the noise floor for the phantom unit was over the telephone. However, I compared the noise floor value with that of the Denecke, and it was negligible (if not equal). That's when I made the decision to pick up the Art unit, since it cost half of the Denecke unit's price. I think you will find that the concensus here is that 'power is power'. Different colorations will come into play based on which pre you choose. I'm not running a pre, so my mics are very transparent. I am very pleased with the Art phantom II. I honestly think some folks like the Denecke because it is more well known and is a more established namebrand. Also, the Denecke unit is 'slightly' smaller I believe. Stealthers probably pick up the Denecke for this reason alone. Again, based on memory, I think the difference in size is also negligible. Look up the specs for both units and make your decision. You will have to call Artcessories to get the noise floor value, however. One thing I personally like about the Art unit, is that theoretically you could lose power to one mic and still at least get a mono recording since there is one battery for each channel. I'm sure many here would just as soon lose the whole show rather than salvaging a mono recording though.