Anybody use a 5687 tube inplace of a 6sn7?

Thanks for the info, unfortunately none of the data sheets posted. 

Steve

Thank you 

In fact, I have. This substitute was popular for a very narrow slice of head-fi history, in the mid-2000s. The Singlepower OTL tube headphone amplifiers were extremely popular at this time, and they offered many different configurations & customizations, including adapters for various tube substitutions. These amps used a trio of dual-triode tubes, originally all 6SN7. The first tube was input/gain. The next 2 were both for outputs (white cathode followers?). Either the design was originally intended for maximum flexibility, and/or it’s just a fact most of these tube circuits tend to be fairly tolerant of this. The intention for most of us was NOT lowest distortion - it was to achieve sweetest sound and synergistic pairings for the top headphones of the day (each of which had its own strong voicing and quirks).

What we found was that 6SN7 were a little weak for driving headphones directly, especially with headphones of lower impedance (below 120 ohms). A pair of 5687 output tubes via adapters was one of the early successful subs here. I had these, and it rendered way WAY more slam, weight, and dynamics compared to 6SN7s, at the expense of shrinking soundstage a bit. In fact some of the early amps shipped this way were labeled as the "SLAM" version. In a preamp I suspect the effect will be reduced in magnitude, but would still grant some of this “character”.

Pretty sure these 5687 draw a LOT more heater current (they run hot as hell) so your amp will need to be able to safely supply this. Also the optimal operating points are likely to be different, so standard disclaimers apply. BUT it worked quite well in these amps originally designed with 6SN7.

As experimentations evolved, most of us ended up with 6BL7GTA or 6BTX7GT tubes on outputs (no adapters needed) and 2C51 /396A (with a different adapter) for the input tube. But I still fondly remember that initial 5687 sub, and how much I enjoyed the sound! 7044 was also a popular (if harder to find) sub using those same adapters.

There were also crazy "XLR" versions of these Singlepower amplifiers which doubled up to 6 tubes. I’m certain they were far from accurate, but man they sounded AMAZING with Sony MDR-R10 or even a pedestrian Sennheiser HD650.

Yes I have in facti had bought a pair within 300. Hours one tube blew and itwas a sylvania but construction looks like a RCA 4 post military tube 

don’t believe theBS they or others are 10,000 hour tubes absolutely not the norm 

at most $200 a pair I have been into tube gear since the 1970s .

I had most everything out there when they were very available and low cost.

@audioman58 four posts? 10,000 hours? Are you sure you’re not thinking of 5692, because that certainly doesn’t sound like a 5687.

5687 is a 9 pin I stand to be corrected I was referring to a 5692.
and 10,000 hours for Any tube is not common or likely .

a 6sn7 has a different Sonic characteristic ,for sure worth checking out 

especially matched NOS tubes.

5687 is a 9 pin I stand to be corrected I was referring to a 5692.
and 10,000 hours for Any tube is not common or likely .

a 6sn7 has a different Sonic characteristic ,for sure worth checking out

especially matched NOS tubes.

It’s crazy how tube numbers can be so close when the tubes themselves are vastly different! I did try some of the red base 5692 in place of 6SN7 in the aforementioned Singlepower headphone amp. They were nice, but just not for me.

The 5692's 10,000 hours rating assumes you’re keeping within guidelines for rated voltages, dissipation etc. IIRC 5692 specs a max plate voltage of only 250V. 6SN7’s are 350V, with GTA and GTB versions going up to 450V. The 5692’s plate dissipation was also lower. When you drop a 5692 into some 6SN7 circuits you’ll be exceeding its ratings! Sometimes by a lot. The vaunted 10,000 hour rating goes out the window at that point.

5687 are mini 9-pin dual triodes that look similar to a 12A*7 series tubes except with different plate structures and very different operation. I can’t understate how damn HOT these 5687 tubes get. You don’t expect it from such a small tube - easy to burn the crap out of yourself by accident if you’re rolling.