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Linlai E 6sn7 tubes

I just placed an order for a pair of these for my Aric Audio Motherlode II.  I’ve been chatting with a fellow that runs the E 6sn7 in his Don Sachs pre. He loves them, He says they make his NOS tubes sound thin and lifeless.  
    It will be a couple weeks until I receive them,and I was curious if anyone out in Agon land has tried these,and what are your impressions?   
Thanks in advance,

    Ray

128x128rocray
hollykumi
3 posts
 

Bought a pair after following this awesome thread.

I do quite a bit of tube rolling with my Freya+. My system and recording studio is very revealing of gear. After burning in, this is my take on them. Really nice tight bass. I'm very particular about bass. Voices are sweet, fun and alive. The top end is just a bit too ’sparkle plenty’ for my tastes. Almost like the original recording engineer, decided to add a just a taste of tight reverb. Which to me created a bit of a mask of what was beneath. Don’t get me wrong, these are wayyyy better than JJ’s, Electroharmonics, standard GE’s and standard Sylvania's etc, etc. They are great, just not my cup of tea. I’m back to my reference uncolored Russian military tubes.

Bought em for $200, selling them on ebay for $150. 60 hours of burn in, and a couple hours of listening.

Cheers guys!

invalid
1,258 posts
 

There shouldn't be any gases in a 6sn7 tube

lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,418 posts
 

When you spoke to Grant Fidelity about the Chinese 6sn7 session ( the ones with the horizontal letterings) did they say it wasnt originals or just a matter of distribution in Asian markets as we had discussed prior. Also do you have the Globals too ( the ones with vertical letterings) and if so, how do the Chinese 6sn7 Linlais compare to the Globals.

 "I understand why they sound good in the Freya and Sachs preamps when used with a complimentary cathode follower."  May I know what you mean by this? Err in layman terms please. 

Complimentary tube means a different pair of tubes which add their sonic signature to the total sound; ie, using a neutral tube with extended highs such as Linlai in the gain-stage and a Ken Rad with powerful bass and holographic sound as followers. Both sets of tubes contribute to the overall sound.

 

Grant Fidelity didn't comment on my Linlai with horizontal lettering. Rachel only inferred the difference between the HIFI tubes as entry level and not up to the performance of the Globals.

 

lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,418 posts
 

I'm disappointed with the Chinese E-6SN7, nothing special about them. They lack bass extension and are basically dull sounding in the mids. This Is the first time a tube has sounded better during the burnin phase compared to completely bedded-in. Lots of bass when first installed then turned into a bland sound overall. 

I've since replaced Linlai with Ken Rads, Melz, various Sylvania and sonics are much more engaging.

ram18
87 posts
 

@lowrider57  Tks for the clarification. Got that part on complimentary tubes. Well sorry the Chinese 6sn7s did not work out for you. @rocray and others have been seeing good results with the Chinese 6sn7s.  Possibly in your case the match may not have been exactly right. Also a strange case of tubes sounding poorer after bedding in. Well looks like  you have a great array of NOS tubes. So happy tube rolling!

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