Shootout of Nos 6sn7 tubes

Alot of great 6SN7 types out there!

To my ears the Ken Rad - although a great tube with the best bass, has the weakest midrange and treble.  The Metal based Sylvania sounds amazing for the first couple hundred hours, but the pixie dust wears off as the tube starts to age.  The Raytheon flat plates are fast, dynamic, clean and exciting - but lack any midrange texture and warmth.  The RCA VT231 and 5962 both have the warmth in the mids, but are not as transparent.

The best tube overall, in a neutral system is the VT231 Sylvania.  Bass establishes a great foundation for the music, midrange is the best I have ever heard from a 6SN7 type, and the treble is clean and extended.

@paul_lindemann

I have 5 pairs of Sylvania vt231.

They are great but with too tight midbass.

If your system is bass rich, they may work well.

I also have two pairs of Kenrad vt231, thus agree your opinion on it.

Kenrad may do wonder with somebody's sytem with rather analytical balance.

I have 80 difierent kinds of 6sn7 and variants including 10 different kinds of 6f8g.

After going through all of them during last 4 years, I reached the conclution that there is no best one.

There are some top tier groups but they also need system matching.

Thomas

@shkong78 I really appreciate your thread.  It has been so helpful in identifying tubes I may not have known about like the 6fg8’s.  Can you share which  6fg8’s you like.  I have 2- the NU round plates and Rca early 40’s gray glass us navy tubes.  Both are excellent with different flavors.  Thanks

I do not intend to give detailed comparison of 6f8g tubes.

As soon as I do it, price of some tube will be jacked up.

Some 6f8g tubes are available under 120$ per pair, thus one had better find out.

It is like wine tasting.

Fun to revisit this topic.🤪

And just to add to our obsessive collecting horizons, may I remind you all that the predecessor of the 6SN7 was the 6J5? A 6SN7 is basically two 6J5s in one bottle and the change was made to simply reduce costs. Mick Maloney seems to acknowledge this by offering a uber-preamp which uses vintage Navy 6J5s instead of 6SN7s...

Those who research obsessively will find a thread (somewhere - I don’t remember where it is right now) in which the claim is made that the best 6SN7 is a pair of 6J5s...! A whole ’nother domain for tube obsession insanity. 😉

I think it’s interesting that Don Sachs is using the new Linlai Elites in his preamp and they were also selected for the new 300B amp discussed by Lynn Olson and others on the "300b lovers" thread.

Me, right now I keep coming back to the old KR VT231s. But there’s a lotta’ great sounding tubes out there. Haven’t tried the Linlais yet. Also haven’t tried the 6F8G tubes with the adapter yet. But it’s in the back of my mind to do so. 🙃