@eddnog be patient with the Linlai E-6SN7’s. I had a pair and they went through a lot of changes during the first 75-125 hours. Bass and brightness was a moving target in my experience. Once they settled in they were a very nice new stock tube. I just preferred my NOS tubes for a warmer more engaging sound on my system. They would be my go to tube if my favorite NOS dry up or if prices rocket up.
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
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@tksteingraber Thanks! I’ve been trying to avoid going down the rabbit hole of discovering a NOS tube that’s older than I am (I’m 42) and falling in love with it only to never be able to buy more down the line, especially with an amp that needs at least a matched pair at a time. As such, I’ve been trying to stick to new production stuff. -Ed |
Just received a pair of the Linlai E-6SN7 tubes and have had them installed in a Dennis Had Inspire headphone amp playing a cd on repeat for 10 hours, settled in and listened to 5 albums. These are really good already and am looking forward to getting them burnt in. These are replacing Shuguang WE 6SN7 replicas that I had 2 pairs of, here's where this gets interesting, 1 pair sourced through Grant fidelity and 1 pair sourced from a Chinese seller on e bay that I have delt with before to purchase Psvane and Shuguang tubes and I could not tell the difference after both pair were played in, WTS both pair showed fault around 350 hours as they would arc around the base and really buzz for about 8 to 10 seconds when turned on (1 tube from each pair) after the initial 10 seconds buzz went away they sound fine, just afraid to use them any more. Also the Grant Fidelity tube is a few MM taller. |
The arcing is definitely concerning. Do you have another amp to verify that problem so you can say it is the amp or the tube? Regardless, I would contact Dennis Had (or however you purchased) for advice. Assuming it has a soft start feature, the current behaviour seems contrary to intended design. I hope you can get this resolved easilly!
Thank you for your impressions on the two suppliers. With a complete lack of stated selection parameters it is difficult to decide what/if there are differences. Even if there are differences, we have no credible research data that those differences correlate to sound quality, reliability, length of time in which sound quality is comparable to the 100 hr mark, and so on. Tubes are gonna fail when they want to, NOS included. I had 1 fail at @150 hours, Viva Tubes had a matched replacement at my door in 4 days, cross country. Dealing with out of country can be more complicated and expensive. I don't think there is anything wrong with deciding what kind of buying experience we want to have. Recently I bought a oem replacement light for my car from Latvia as those things are tough. Tubes are fragile, for me Im fine paying for Stateside screening and rapid replacement. YMMV!
I have a full set of 6 Linlai HiFi black plates on my Cary SLP-05. Enjoying them a lot, but will do impressions and comparison later when I buy a full 6 of the E-6SN7s. |
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