Hi All
Came across this forum when I was researching about Linlai E 6sn7 tubes. There is not very much info on these tubes apart from this forum. I have gained good insights from your experiences. From the reviews thus far, the Linlais do seem like a good investment albeit with long hours of burn in.
I just bought a Schiit Freya +. It comes with stock JJ tubes. The tubes have still not broken in yet. With streaming, the sound is still a bit raw with sharp edges in the music. Bass is average, however the soundstage and clarity are pretty good. Its quite transparent. Some songs seem to have some siblance though.
My Freya runs into an XTZ A2-300 power amp. For streaming I use Node 2i. My CD player is a Marantz 7007. With my CD player, the sound seems too recessed, warmer but with a loss od details. Overall its not good at all. Total lack of bass. Strange cause the Marantz 7007 is quite a good unit. Streaming wise, the stock tubes sounds raw as explained. My speakers are Klipsch RP 6000f, very easy to drive and quite forward in its presentation.
I am considering the Linlai E 6sn7 for the gain stage of my Freya + and Sylvania GTA or GTB (blackbase chrome tops, green letterings ) for my buffer stage of the preamp. Do you think this will be a significant upgrade? Will the Linlais match Sylvanias? Or should I match the Linlais with my current JJ tubes. The third option is to wait for the stock JJ tubes to break in ( not sure what the sound signature of JJ tubes are after breaking in). Many of you have a lot of experience here and I really appreciate your views.