Shootout of Nos 6sn7 tubes

Yesterday I had been back an forth between Melz 1578 made in 80 and Melz 6n8s made in 53.

While 1578 give slightly more dynamics and wider soundstage, 6n8s made in 53 give slightly more air and sparkle thus more suitable for lady vocal.


Pair of 1578 cost me 250$ while pair of 6n8s metal base made in 53 cost me 69$.

Thus 6n8s made in 53 give an excellent value.

Thomas,

I ordered a pair of the 6n8s and those are on the way from the Ukraine. The replacements for the 1578's that had noise are also on their way. Looking forward to doing some comparisons of my own.

For now I have my Sylvania 1950s vintage 6SN7GTB chrome domes in. They are really nice sounding all around, but don't have the bass of the 1578 and maybe a little less detail.  They are very "neutral" sounding and do everything right, but I liked the way the 1578's added more detail and texture to the bass.

http://www.monarchy-audio.com/DIP_Combo_Main_frame.htm

Monarch reclocker that I paid 200$ for used one three years ago changed the balance of my system.

With it back between music server and Hugo Mscaler, overall system sounds with more air and sparkle.

Now I favor 1578 over 6n8s made in 53 with better dynamics.

Another thing is that I start hearing some high frequency noise out of 6n8s.

Thus I may need to re solder the pins of it.

Russian tubes may not be for one who is not willing to do soldering himself.

So far 1578 tube that I had bought from Russian dealer sounds find without noise.

But it may develop some noise later on according to opinion from  people who have lot of experience with Russian tubes.

They claim to have cured the problem with re soldering pins.

I enjoyed reading all of the comments and comparisons.  Since I build a 6SN7 based preamp, I had to find a current production tube with the preamps and amplifiers as I could not offer them with NOS tubes of which I own most of them already.

We built a preamp with a resistor selector switch to enable the user to switch between resistors any time.  This was more effective and made a bigger impact than changing the tubes.  Think naked Vishay, Caddock, Audio Note, Shinkoh, etc.  It was also an easy way to adjust the sound for the different recordings.  Then we changed the voltage for the 6SN7 tube we finally decided on and designed the products around that tubes sonic signature to our liking for the products.

That solved the problem of which tube sounds best on what recording, the cost of purchasing NOS tubes, and made the design easier to implement.

Happy Listening. 

@bigkidz 


Thanks for your kind word and input.

 I fully  understand that amp maker can not use Nos tubes because of limited quantity available and variation among them.

But it is still fun to do tube rolling.

Now I have around 50 pairs of 6sn7 tubes.

30 pairs will be in just storage.

I will take turns at 20 pairs to taste different flavor.

As of now, my favorite tube is 1578 Melz made in 1980 (250$ net cost to me through Ebay dealer)

Thomas