Yeah. It's techno-weenies (like us!) that chat mostly about "sensor noise" in DSLRs. In pocket digicams, with teensy sensors, sure, this is a real issue. But not in DSLRs.

Film suffers from coarse grain at high ISOs, which is vaguely similar to digital sensor noise.

My 40D, at ISO 1600, is way, way, WAY better than ISO 1600 colour film. Oh, wait.. there's no such thing as ISO 1600 colour film..

And the better DSLRs go much, much higher than ISO 1600.