Linlai E 6sn7 tubes

Thank you @pinwa I was thinking of getting a quad for my SLP-05, I think I'll go ahead and do it.

pinwa

140 posts

02-05-2023 at 01:27am 

I have purchased 8 LinLai E-6SN7 tubes from various vendors on Aliexpress.  Most recently I took advantage of a special and got a matched quad for $250.  Other than the labeling I am convinced that these are identical to the Grant Fidelity tubes.  Perhaps there is additional testing but it is ridiculous to think they are making a different tube for the Western market.  BTW, the E-6SN7's have performed admirably in every amp I have put them in and currently they are driving my Cary SLP-05 preamp.  I like them better than any of the NOS tubes I have tried.

@blkwrxwgn I liked the LinLai E-6SN7's in my SLP-05 better than the Sylvania, Raytheon VT-231, Foton 1960's, or new production TungSol 6SN7's that I tried.  The LinLai's don't color the music the way some of the other tubes do but still somehow make it sound better.  But everybody has different tastes and it wouldn't surprise me to find a sophisticated listener with a different preference.  I also liked the LinLai E-6SN7's best in my Aric Audio Super 300B SET amp.  

@pinwa good to hear.  I've only had the stock EH tubes, which were way to bright for me.  Then tried some JJ's, not bad actually but not great, then Sylvania VT231, which I have liked quite a bit.  Tried a combo of JJ in 1, 4, and Sylvania 7N7 in 2,3,5,6 and have liked this so far.

Just bought a quad of the E-6SN7 from China and will see how those do in 1,2,4,5, if I like them I'll buy them for 3 and 6 since I do use my dac with XLR but it also has RCA so I can still test it without getting all 6 tubes at once.

@blkwrxwgn I bought my SLP-05 used and it came with the stock EH tubes.  Maybe they were worn out but I really disliked them.  Actually thought about selling the SLP-05 until I changed them out.

It has never been clear to me if you need to have a matched quad in 1,2,4,5 or if you can have one type in 1,4 and another type in 2,5.  It sounds like you had good results mixing them?

@pinwa had great luck mixing them up, I was surprised. But yeah those stock tubes are horrible. I think people sell them with the stock tubes because they never used them.