Linlai E 6sn7 tubes

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

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.

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.

@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!

@rah50 

 

On a slightly different topic:

Has anyone tried tube rings on the Global E-6SN7's?

I have no experience with tube rings, so just asking if we might hear an improvement.

Tube dampers are used to tighten up the resonances produced by a tube. A damper can help suppress the ringing sound from a slightly microphonic tube, once the tube has become fully microphonic nothing will help. Dampers will also tighten up a booming bass.

The reason I used them in one of my setups was when I had components with exposed tubes, audio rack on side wall, and the speaker dispersion was hitting the tubed components causing vibration.