Most Musical 6NS7 tube for a Preamp?

The Modwright LS 100 used should fit in your budget if you can find one.  I've been super happy with mine.  No lack of bass, but I have 4 subwoofers.  Having said that, Before I got my Harbeth Super HL5 Plus speakers I was using Legacy Audio Focus 20/20 speakers and they produced prodigious amounts of bass on their own when connected to the LS-100.  Is the LS-100 the "most musical" in that price range?  Beats me.  I'm sure you'll get some other good recommendations. 

The only issue I've had with it is NOS and some of the fancier new tubes going microphonic in it.  I won't mention brands, but their first name is Sophia and last name is Electric.  The Tung Sols that came with it have not had any issues with microphonics and sound surprisingly good.  They are in it now while I'm waiting for a replacement for one of the NOS tubes that started crackling...

why tube preamp into SS amp? I say go tube all the way. you can always put your SS amp back in for comparison.

those speakers are soo efficient you could easily go for a tube integrated with remote volume, probably remote source switching which I never use

or, an old tube preamp with a lot of features, manual controls, into a tube amp or integrated with remote volume, some sources direct to amp, some thru preamp.

I traded my McIntosh SS amp and SS preamp for 2 tube pieces, couldn't be happier.

1. old mcintosh tube tuner/preamp, terrific collection of inputs, manual controls, mx110z.

2. Cayin A88T integrated tube amp, 45wpc. remote volume, remote inputs, preamp in bypass...

I would like external bias meter/adjust (not my model), and remote balance on the preamp, or, in my case, remote balance on the integrated.

think future options now.

luckily the old McIntosh preamp has phono 1 and phono 2, which I didn’t think about, but, moved up to a two tonearm turntable, having those 2 phonos made is soooo easy

Good preamp  recommendations.
I've been tube rolling 6SN7's for years and there are tubes with prodigious bass, such as NOS Tung Sol and RCA. Low-end response also depends on the signature and synergy of your components, and the room itself.

The 6SN7 is in my opinion the best tube for a line section in a preamp.


Back when we started using them the tube was considered obsolete and no-one used them at all. Obviously that’s changed in the last 30 years!

The Pass Labs XA25 only has single-ended inputs so the 6SN7-based preamp can be quite simple. Just make sure that the preamp is not going to have a problem with the input impedance of the amp, but the XA25 is 47K so should not be challenging for most preamps.


IMO/IME a simpler circuit is better- less to go wrong.


The best sounding 6SN7s of current production are coming out of China. We’ve seen fairly short lives out of the Sophia tubes, but otherwise the Chinese boutique 6SN7s seem to hold up well. I would stay away from the Russian fare unless you are able to find 1960s-era Soviet 6SN7s which are excellent.


The best of the Americans are the Ken-Rad, Metal base Sylvania Chrome Dome (WW2 vintage), the RCA red base, probably in that order, and assuming the individual example you find is actually good. But almost any American made 6SN7 is a decent tube- even the RCA coin-base tube.

The Chinese Shuguong tube is a copy of the Phillips JAN (Joint Army-Navy) 6SN7 and sounds very much like it. We’ve had good luck with this tube- they seem to hold up for years.


Of course its a simple fact that with high performance tube equipment, the tubes **must** be handpicked for low noise and low microphonics.


Have fun!!

Why no Schiit? The Freya is world class.