I was looking at investing in a new trainer for myself. I've done a lot of research by watching videos, reading DC Rainmaker's reviews as well as many others. The main issue I'm worried about is sound because I'll be sharing an apartment. This pretty much rules out all magnetic and fluid trainers if I'm not mistaken, as well as rollers. (I think they're loud?) I've seen both good and bad reviews of STAC Zero which is 0 noise besides the drive train which is ideal, but I'm not sure if it's good. Lastly that would leave me with the Kicker, tacx Neo, and Elite Direto or Kura? If you could give any input that would be wonderful. Primarily noise is my number 1 factor (I would prefer not to have something louder than a tower fan on high). Thanks for reading and hopefully you have some suggestions.
I realize most likely due to the quiet requirement I'm stuck between the choice of STAC or a super expensive, but I want some feedback from other users.

find a Dominatrix running a spinning class..

I thought fluid trainers were pretty quiet?

My magnetic trainer is louder than a tower fan on high. My cat would look at it when I changed speeds and the pitch changed, but it didn't bother me much. The tires you use will make a difference too, you can use a slick for less noise.

I bought the Elite Direto and it seems fairly quiet. However I only can judge between it and the Wahoo Kickr. The Tacx Neo has a vibration feature that mimics the road feel for realism so I can't imagine it would be more quiet.

Spinning class also will be elsewhere .. solving the noise problem.

I hate spin classes lol. I can't do it whenever I want. Using stationary bikes at the gym also doesn't solve it because it feels weird... idk maybe I'm just too attached to my bike.

The Kickr is a lot louder and it's a much higher sound from what I've listened to. The neo does have a vibration feature but it's very quiet. I could only hear the clicking of the drive train. Could you describe the sound of the Elite Direto? like would it compare to a blender? Or something else?

slick? You mean a training tire?

Not noisy like a blender. Just light motor whirring and of course drive train noise. The Direto has a belt driven flywheel so it's not loud in my estimation. Rainmaker has some video I think that shows the sound levels of the various trainers. I didn't worry much about noise as bang for the buck. The price for the Direto was the selling point for me. My brother has the Kickr and other than noise I could tell no difference with grade changes on Zwift between the two and about the same lag time in Erg mode.

One with no tread, or very little tread.

So if you put in standard earbuds given with your phone and listened to music at 30% and at 50% would you still be able to hear the music quite comfortably over the trainer? Also I'm not sure because I think they put microphones pretty close and all of them say around 50-60 dB which doesn't help me because when I look online for things equating to 50-60 dB it doesn't help. When I was hearing DC rainmaker do a test of the Kickr it also sounded really high pitched and I was wondering if its super noticeable?

Yup, the Kickr is a bit annoying IMO but not a deal breaking issue. I rode my Direto this AM and really didn't notice anything but some motor whirring with grade changes and the trainers cooling fan. But quiet is a very subjective topic so I can't really judge your standard of quiet. What I do know is that I haven't rode a wheel on trainer that is as quiet as a direct drive wheel off.

A trainer tire is a lot quieter than a normal road tire.

The compound is also different. When I used a road tire, there were little black particles around and on the trainer.

True, and they are super durable. Last forever, almost.

*proceeds to put training tire on during road race and gets a flat on turn 1*... Do you know if stores would be willing to help me test trainers? I went to a BS which had a Cycleops (I think it was a fluid trainer). It wasn't a Mag and it definitely was a normal one that doesn't have a separate cassette sort of deal. That was probably 2X the loudness I would be looking for? and that would be my max. I think it said on the box like 60-70 something decibels at 20MPH. I'm not sure how fast I'll be going, but my FTP is around 200 so I'll be putting in 200 Watts no matter WATT. ok sorry bad pun. anyways, I think the other dealbreakers for me is anything high pitched like KICKR just because I would find it annoying AF and my roommate wouldn't appreciate it and I wouldn't blame him.

I should think any BS that carries trainers could give you a test try in the store. Possible your roomie would go along and give you an idea about what is acceptable?

Well after going through this entire thread there can be only one solution,,,,, get rid of this roomie, after trying to idiot proof everything and it doesn't work then you just have to get rid of the idiot....

I don't believe he was having trouble with his roomie, he's just trying to be considerate. Which happens to be an unusual trait these days IMO.

Hey ddub it almost sounds like the op is walking on eggshells around there, I know my reply was sarcastic borderline rude but unless the roomie sleeps all day and works all nite well I don't know , how long does the op stay on the trainer who knows, but consideration works both ways , give some get some,,,