Linlai E 6sn7 tubes

@rah50 

Can you call Grant Fidelity and ask? I'm betting the vertical logo was an early version, but would love to know the truth.

Hey guys, I had decided to send en email to Linlai Global to ask about the 2 different looking Elite 6SN7 tubes that can be purchased in the US market today. I sent them the same 2 pictures that @twoleftears posted earlier in this thread. I specifically asked if the 2nd one in the picture (the one with the horizontal labelling) is fake or not.

They actually got back to me rather quickly. They pointed me to their website which I went ahead and read it carefully. It mentions that the "Linlai Global" tubes with the vertical label are designed and manufactured for the western markets specifically for western music.

The website also mentioned that tubes manufactured for the Asian/Chinese markets are tuned to Asian music and has a different logo, written in Chinese. These Asian market tubes will not have warranty outside of their Asian market.

They wouldn’t answer my question of whether the tube in the 2nd photo is fake or not.

Here’s my thought from reading that web page carefully. The tubes that are sold by Vivatubes and some eBay sellers are either fake (logo not written in Chinese), or made by Linlai specifically for the Asian markets. According to what’s explained on their website, the tubes for global markest and the ones for the Asian markets should sound differently.

I guess the only way to find out is to do a shoot out between the two.

Thanks for doing that legwork Kenny!  That is interesting that they are tuned for different music. I’m not sure what to think of that.  

Does the Asian market like tipped up high frequencies? 

Hey Ray,  I guess as long as you're happy with the sound.  That's all that matters.  I was doing it for my own curiosity.   

Anyway, these Linlai might just be a tad too tall for my setup, so I haven't really decided whether to go ahead and purchase them yet.   But I'm definitely interested in looking for good sounding new production tubes and not relying on NOS tubes.  Who knows when the supply of NOS tubes will eventually dry up.