Shootout of Nos 6sn7 tubes

I have 3 pairs of Melz but no more interest in them due to noise problem.

I also collected more than 8 ohter Russian tubes whish also sound decent.

Recently, I am using 6f8g tubes but no detailed review on them.

If I write detailed review, they will jack up the price..

Tungsol 6f8g got  overpriced due to hype.

Thomas

Thomas

Some people try to define which is the best 6sn7 tube.

But after going through more than 50 kinds of 6sn7 and variants, around 20 of them are pretty good.

The choice will be dependent on system and personal taste.

Vintage tubes are like vintage wines.

I sometime rotate between the tubes to taste different flavors.

Thomas

Agree it’s very difficult to say which 6SN7 tube is best.  We all have our preferences and our systems vary greatly.  For my system the Melz just stand out and hit all the marks although several others sound great just different.  I also like the analogy of fine wine…many taste good but with subtle differences in flavor.  Fun to rotate them for different moods.

@tksteingraber 

It is indeed fun to rotate the tube depending on your mood or music.

But be sure to use socket saver.

Otherwise, it will be lot of work to replace tube socket in your pre or main amp.

Just 2 cents.

Thomas

I also had tried four different kind of 7n7 out of curiosity 2 years ago.

Although they sound clear and detailed but lack overall musicality compared with vt231 or 6f8g tunes.

I got the impression that they sound rather thin in my system.

But 7n7 tubes are reasonably priced.

Thus you may try them for fun or different flavor.

You never know until you try them in your system.

It need adapter.

Thomas

Thus no more interest in 7n7.

Thomas