Linlai E 6sn7 tubes

Don told me to let the tubes run for 20 hours. So far in 8 hours, no change. One tube is 10x louder than the other. I can hear it outside the room. Swapped the cables left to right and the higher noise tracks the tube. The lower noise one is still ridiculous. I'm not sure how you guys are putting up with this. I have to get to 8 inches of my tweeters to hear small hiss from the Shunguangs.

Don says the preamp is fine and he does get an occasional bad one but his volume is high and he is okay with that. Only one source for these I understand so are the sellers actually listening to the tubes before shipping out?

I bought a pair from them. A bad pair, but they have a great return policy with prepaid shipping labels.

Received my Grant Fidelity Linlai Globes today. Superb tubes.

They are extremely quiet, more quiet than the best Linlai I have had so far and as quiet as the CV181’s I have in the hiss/tube rush category.

I did have to use an extender on one to keep them from touching front to back on my preamp.

One whole hour so far. Very happy with the purchase.

Viva is very responsive and professional.

This is the inner box they come in:

Blurry, but pins in new condition 

I also ordered a pair of the "black plates" from your recommended source. I am okay with hoarding tubes since I believe this Sachs is a keeper. Mated with my Coda 8, I am very happy. I also ordered a bunch or rectifier tubes including a rare 5852 Bendix.

I have a box of 6SN7's from my days with a Dude but those tubes are not as musical as these globed tubes available these days.

Just received mine this week. Was making some other changes so have not popped them in. Maybe today as Mother’s Day winds down.

I should be getting my credit from them for my returned tubes any day now. Good specs, but noisy. That is why I paid a premium for Grant Fidelity tubes as they actually listen to them with headphones to weed out the noisier of the quietist tubes. Based on Jayc's recommendation, I ordered the globes.

Let's hope your system still withstands those noisy tubes - ha! 🎧🎵🔊

Since you had no issue with my China sourced tubes, you should be golden.

I found Viva to be responsive and very willing to accept my tubes back. They arrived there today. They emailed me a return label via USPS.

The Ebay seller I used was very willing to send a replacement set that were much better and he did it quickly.  amptata_audio

My 2 Linlai's are very noisy so they are coming out. High level of hiss can be heard at my chair and over the top of music. So I guess I received a bad pair from China.

We'll see. I bought them through Ebay and sent them a note. 

Inside plastic sleeves, in a custom box with cut foam to the exact shape. Very nicely done. Can't complain about the packaging for sure. We'll see what they say. I've got plenty of good tubes and the new Stealth Indras are performing admirably with my Shunguangs!

I did hear back and the sellers were closed due to Covid for a week. I am told they are sending me another pair. Stay tuned.

Is anyone running the non-Elite version of the Linlai 6SN7?

So I bore the loud hiss of those Linlai's last night just to see if they do sound "good" and I do see how nice they are. Very fleshy.

I tried both my Sachs outputs and both have the same loud hiss. I'm wondering if the cables are influencing this so I might swap out the preamp cables tonight and give it a whirl. I have to put my ear 8 inches from my tweeters to hear noise with all my other tube choices.

I have another set coming from China but coming from the same suppler doesn't make me think the end result will be any better. I bought these on Ebay. I should look at another vendor perhaps? I can't imagine shipping with those nice boxes and foam inserts caused both tubes to be damaged. 

I should send my first pair to someone here to give them a try and see if it is my system. Any volunteers?

New tubes from the dealer on Ebay and the pins are shiny new. I did not want to muck them up with the High Fidelity contact treatment. I could try the old standby solution, Deoxit.

I'll send these to Dan so he can try them regardless.

I cleaned all the tube pins with Deoxit and no change in hiss.

Then I changed out the Stealth's for Gabriel Gold's and no change.

After that I put my Shunguangs back in with the Indra's and all was quiet and enjoyable again.

Tomorrow I'll send them to Dan to see if they continue to hiss.

I have 1 hour on these tubes.

Gain knobs make no change in hiss. 

I'm having bad luck with tubes. The Bendix 5852 burned up on me at 20 minutes of use last night. You've never seen a big man move so fast running for the power buttons.

My owner's manual for my Sachs states 5852 is an approved tube, just to let the pre warm up first. But after just 20 minutes the tube started flaking out so I powered down immediately and will send it back to the Tubedepot with free return shipping.

I did try a different 6X5 Raytheon I just purchased elsewhere tonight and it works fine. Just bad luck I guess.

My US-sourced pair hiss as well.

Where are you buying your tubes? I bought the 2nd set from VivaTubes.

Don does not buy tubes from Viva.

I am not sure why my preamp does not like these tubes. Don assures me it is not the preamp. He gets the occasional bad tube. Maybe the third set of tubes will be better.🙄

I sent a note to Viva and asked them if they actually listen to them or just test them.

Are there sockets I can buy to put in-between my pre and the tube that may get a better connection, if that is an issue? I don't want to press against the PCB too hard that supports the sockets. I'll probably have to take the unit apart and give it a once over.

Dan, no hiss or noise whatsoever? Is one louder than the other? What is the efficiency of your speakers? My Wilsons are 91 db so fairly sensitive to noise.

I finally saw the link above and ordered 4 extenders. Maybe the tubes are tight and not inserting all the way. We'll try that workaround when they arrive.

I think the 5852 tube messed up that circuit, which happened right before the Linlai's showed up. I had another 6X5 do the same tonight so I think when everything warms up the damaged component is flaking out. Perhaps the Linlai's irritate that component from the jump. Not sure if they draw more power than vintage 6SN7's.

the 30 minutes of beautiful music, with no hiss BTW, using Treasures and Full Music 6SN7's was wonderful. Right up to the rectifier going crazy like the 5852 did. I'm waiting for DOn to make some suggestions and I'll open it up tomorrow and poke around. Maybe I cracked a solder joint pushing the tubes in and out.

I'm not having issues with any other tubes. Just the Linlais.

Tomorrow I will measure the pin diameters and compare. Then take the preamp apart and check for solder joint cracks.

Then I may force the tubes in without the lid attached and support the PCB from the back side and see if the pins seat all the way.

Then I will await the extenders. Or have a bourbon first.😌

Received my replacement pair from China and FINALLY, they are almost completely hiss-free. Magnitudes better than the other 2 pairs I have tried.

While I was getting 8 inches of hiss on all my other tubes, these are about 20 inches, evenly so left and right, and not heard from my seating position. Yippee.

And pretty friggin' good too. Tremendous body to all instruments. Saxes jump right out at you. Have them paired with the Shunguangs right now but I prefer the Full Music and will try those tomorrow in the second seat.

Dan sent back my first pair. They are still noisy. Too noisy for me to play. I'll try replacing my resistor in the preamp this week and try them again to see if that affects them, but it shouldn't.

danmar123

134 posts

05-22-2022 at 03:22pm

@bugredmachine Glad you received the tubes today, there has to be something going on with the pre-amp. Just a shame you have to go thru all of bull for them you work. Remember I only put a total of 2 hrs. on them.

I’m still looking for the correct tube saver for me to pull the trigger on the Linlai.

We’ll see if that resistor comes into play. Due tomorrow.

What about these tube savers? I ordered 4, due this week:

Socket Saver - 8-Pin, for reducing wear and tear on tube sockets | Antique Electronic Supply (tubesandmore.com)

If others aren't having hiss issues, I can just sell them if my resistor change does not help.

My first bad pair came from China. My second came from Viva and are going back today. My second pair from same China source were acceptable. Tube sellers measure them but don’t have time to listen to them.

Grant Fidelity say they listen to them with headphones to ensure low noise.

Has anyone tried the globe version?

I bought the regular version, and while only 30 minutes of running, they are fairly noisy and don't have much bass at this time.

Thanks!

Treasure Globe 6SN7-SE (pair or single, GF Limited Special Edition) – Premium Vacuum Tubes

Maybe I got the last pair. On their way. Still waiting on my refund from Viva for the noisy E6SN7 pair. My email exchange with Rachel at GF was reassuring that they listen to the tubes with headphones to verify they are low noise, especially for preamp applications.

I've heard from those who have traveled the Psvane path that their globes are not as good as the Linlai globes.

Yes. You should have kept those.

Well you sent them back so fast we never had a chance to discuss my terms🙏