Even the best analouge desks give off slight white noise but do you think not having a desk atall takes away a feeling of sound that only analouge desks can make!!
Also not having a desk surely means stuff like not being able to route mics and stuff or maybe later on not being able to route stuff to effects units!! though i am not plannin on getting outboard stuff at the moment im really starting to think about weather to get one or not!!!