Linlai E 6sn7 tubes

Beware...Linlai does not have any authorised dealers on AliExpress. There is a "buyer beware" page on their website.

@ jayctoy

Thanks!

One thing that is definitely noticeable immediately,is these are really quiet tubes.  

I did get mine off of flea bay. I searched for a seller with 100% positive feedback. Unfortunately,that seller is out of stock. I know a lot of you are hesitant to buy there. AliExpress has a bunch of sellers with plenty in stock. None have 100% positive feedback.  I figured I was safer with epay and using PP,if something went south. It was 18 days from the date of purchase to my front door. 

Grant Fidelity but they are out of stock, Iam buying as well.

Guys,

Where's the best place to purchase Linlai?

Thanks

@rocray WOW! The Sylvania 6by5 rectifier is also 4" tall. Luckily the linestage has tubes on the top instead of in a box. Thanks for the measurements. Was going to space the Salamander rack shelves further apart anyway. 

@lowrider57 thanks for the tube profiles. They are the only 6SN7 I have, and had no idea where they stood sonically. It will be interesting to hear the comparison.

Thanks,

aldnorab

Previous Don Sachs Model 2 linestage owner set it up with two gray glass RCA VT 231, two Ken-Rad black glass VT231, and a Coke bottle Sylvania 6BY5GA rectifier. 

RCA is warm, KR is neutral/warm with the incredible bass. Linlai by all reports are pretty neutral. Rolling them in will be interesting. The choice is which combination sounds best.

@aldnorab, from the base,not including the pins,they are about 4”. They are biggins for sure. 

@rocray  thanks for the break in info. Mine are on the way from China and will take time to arrive. Will update their progress as they break in. Previous Don Sachs Model 2 linestage owner set it up with two gray glass RCA VT 231, two Ken-Rad black glass VT231, and a Coke bottle Sylvania 6BY5GA rectifier. If Linlai can match or beat this and have a long life, I'll be thrilled. Looking forward to your break in updates.

 How tall are the Linlai? Hope they aren't taller than the Sylvania rectifier. It is twice the height of a standard 6SN7.

Thanks,

aldnorab

@vinylvalet,and @aldnorab, I’ve been told they need 100hrs of burn in. Please post your impressions here. I’m at about 55 hours. I m on vacation,so I’ve been running them 12-14 hrs a day. I haven’t done any analytical listening,but they are definitely filling in from first listen.

     @aldnorab, I’ve read in advertising copy about the shape of the glass affecting sound. I would have to defer that question to those more knowledgeable than myself.  

Just ordered two for the Don Sachs Model 2 linestage. If they sound as good as expected, I’ll order two more for the remaining spots. Looking forward to hearing these.

Does the size of the glass affect sound in any way? If a company puts their normal size tube guts into larger glass, will it automatically perform better?

Thanks,

aldnorab

I agree with @atmasphere that Sophia should be avoided. My experience with their customer support has been terrible.

My Linlai tubes arrived just recently, haven't had time to try them yet.

Thanks to @rocray for bringing these to my attention.

I now have about seven hours of play time.  I sat and listened for 5 minutes after the first 1/2 hr. My first impressions were exactly what I was told to expect,dark, no sparkle. I also noticed a very narrow soundstage.  I’ve been running mid 60’s GE 6SN7 GTB for the last month or so. Prior to the GE’s, I was running a pair of Brent Jessee KenRad vt231 black glass. The KenRads have been my reference tubes thus far.( I’ll be putting them back in after proper burn in of the Linlai’s) 

      I just sat down to have a listen,and the darkness is starting to fade,and the soundstage is becoming wider and deeper.  They are starting to show promise. 
 

    Ray

The Linlai’s arrived today.  I’ll let them reach room temperature,then the burn in begins.  More to come…….

@rocray please continue to follow up with posts on this thread describing your experience with these tubes.  Especially if you're able to compare them to some of the well regarded vintage tubes.

I just checked tracking. My tubes are in IL. Hopefully I’ll have them by the end of the week. 

Thanks for all the input so far folks.  

I have the Shuguang Treasure 6SN7s on my Don Sachs preamp. Don says in his website that these simply walk away from the holy grail NOS tubes. That's quite a statement.

Obviously this is not the case with all NOS tubes...as a lot of the culture that made these tubes is gone forever.

All of our customers that have installed some of these boutique tubes say the same thing- that the Psvane, TJMusic and so on have all the best qualities of the best NOS tubes without the weaknesses.

I can confirm that the Shugang plant that made the garden variety of 6SN7 burned down about 2 1/2 years ago. Also, FWIW every example we've seen of the Sophia 6SN7 has been weak. We've only seen them installed in customer equipment, and so far when asked no-one has said they were in the equipment for more than 6 months. So we think this tube has a defect causing a short lifespan; NOS tubes will last for years in our stuff.

So far the Linlai tube seems to be a better part. I'm hoping it has a good lifespan as I mentioned earlier; if this is the case the tube is a steal at its price.

@lowrider57 The Linlai website does not grade their tubes, one could assume that their buyers should consider their purchase as having passed a Linlai quality control standard. That leaves me with my original concern that the tube I will be receiving may be of a lower quality even if it is a genuine Linlai tube, perhaps a Linlai "reject"? At this point I just have to wait until I receive it and listen to it, which, other than its reliability, will be the ultimate test regardless.

@weebeesdad , my first impression was that these tubes were graded higher due to tigher specs, the same way Kevin at Upscale offers his tubes. The choice of tube listed is "Top 10% Cryod" or "QC Pass grade." You may be right, that they're not a new tube. They're a higher grade. 

A rating called QC Pass grade doesn't inspire much confidence in the quality of this tube. 

@lowrider57 The vendor does not list them as a Grant Fidelity tube. The pictures shown are not detailed enough to show any markings on the glass. It does show a "plaque" on which is engraved "Linlai Tube E-6sn7 - 01512". When I receive the tube I will look for "PVT" stamped on the glass. I was under the impression that GF's low noise designation was just a tighter spec and not a different structure tube, but I could be mistaken.

Thanks for your reply.

@weebeesdad , did the Chinese vendor list them as Grant Fidelity "top 10% Ultra Low Noise?" Does the tube have PVT stamped on the glass?

My take after reading the GF website is the Ultra Low Noise is a replacement for their previously offered tube, not just tighter specs on an existing tube. They mention a different tube structure.

Any opinions on the importance of Grant Fidelity's "top 10% Ultra Low Noise" rated tube designation as opposed to buying directly from China? I need only one tube for my Dehavilland preamp, went to the Linlai website and they were only selling them in pairs. In a Senior Moment I forgot about Grant Fidelity as a possible source and ordered the single tube from a Chinese distributor on Ebay who has an excellent rating. By the time I remembered Grant Fidelity as a possible source (and they do sell them as singles) it was too late to cancel. So, am I forever doomed to neurotically suffer from those incessant ruminations that my tube will not be performing up to its potential, or is this tube grading mostly a marketing ploy?

I’ve heard the same thing @lowrider57. If you do a google search for the we 6sn7,you’ll find some for sale. STAY AWAY 

The Shunguang facility burned down. There are no more WE6SN7 being manufactured. There are some vendors on Ebay selling these tubes, however there are warnings from tube enthusiasts that these are rejects by Shunguang that do not meet spec. 

I have the Shuguang Treasure 6SN7s on my Don Sachs preamp. Don says in his website that these simply walk away from the holy grail NOS tubes. That's quite a statement.

Obviously this is not the case with all NOS tubes...as a lot of the culture that made these tubes is gone forever.

My main issue is you can no longer get the Treasure variant of this tube from Shuguang (luckily I bought an extra set). You can no longer by the WE version anymore either. Psvane are hard to come by too. Now we have the Linlai.

What is up with the availability of new production tubes from the east? Not a good sign. Make a good product and keep improving it and keep making it.

@fleschler Why are Sophia Electric 6SN7s unavailable?

Take this with a grain of salt. Been told by another member I don’t know what I’m talking about. Okay. After the father of TJ Fullmusic passed, reportedly (unvalidated) his son decided to sell off some of the tooling for the smaller line of tubes to PSVANE including N7s. This has been debated on other forums too.  

Kept a few photos to watch it unfold studying who is making tubes for who and putting labels on for them in fancier gold label boxes. :) I plan to physically and sonically compare the new PSVANE CV181-TII tubes in a few weeks when they arrive. Look:

Compare the (former) regular TJ Fullmusic 6SN7s to the regular Sophia Electric 6SN7s.

I only looked for the Blue Glass 6sn7’s. I’m not sure of other SE 6sn7.   I checked on them about 5-6 weeks ago.

Why are Sophia Electric 6SN7s unavailable?   Is it just in some countries?   

I had done just a little research on the Sophia Electric Blue glass,and they seemed to be highly regarded,however there were none to be found. I have no idea about the longevity of the Linlai’s. If I’m still around,I’ll report after 5-10K hours of use. LOL! 

My 1948 Raytheon 6SN7 tubes are about the same price now at Linai per AiiExpress.   I chose them over Ken-Rad (very close) and RCA from the 40's to 50's era of 6SN7 as they had the best package of dynamics, warmth, extension, etc.   I'm using them as cathode followers in mono-block amps.   It's amazing how much difference there is in cathode follower use (the Sovtek which rebranded U.K. and Counterpoint were awful, the Sylvania Chrome domes were really open and fast but totally too bright from my amps).   I wonder if the Linai's will last 5,000 or 10,000 hours?   Has anyone used or compared Sophia Electrict 6SN7s?   They are even more expensive.

Too bad the Linlai 6sn7 is so huge. I’d like to try it but my amp takes two pairs and they’d be too close together for proper ventilation. Perhaps Linlai will make a more sensibly-sized version someday and dramatically expand their market. Hint, hint if you’re listening, Linlai.

better stock up guys, Taiwan looks like pretty easy pickings for someone at the moment…

I agree with you @decooney. There could be numerous reasons for that partnership to dissolve.  The quality thing has stuck in my mind. Rightfully so? I can’t say.  But I know there are Psvane dealers that do offer 12 month warranty on their tubes.  I guess that wasn’t enough to sway me. Yet….

@immatthewj, I’ve dealt with some reputable tube sellers on EBay.  There are some(what I feel) are great deals on NOS measuring tubes for very reasonable prices. 

@decooney, I remember reading about the Grant/Psvane thing a while back. That being in the back of my mind,held me back from ordering a pair of the blue globe 6sn7’s.

Yep. I truly wondered if the matter had something to do with other financial or buying power factors vs. quality issues. As we’ve seen, vendors, resellers, drop manufacturers for reasons many of us will never know about. I’ve learned to make my own evals, particularly if there is a mid-level seller involved in that chain.

These folks get super competitive too. While I read unvalidated feedback from anonymous folks stating "it only lasted a year", I’ve found the opposite with my older TJ Full Music 6SN7s and new PSVANE small tubes 12AU7, 12AT7s still going strong. All my good 60s Mullard Blackburn plant nos/vintage stuff is stored away in boxes now. Re-visting PSVANEs in other tube types is next for me. Its what AN is using too, in their own private batches. You keep up the good work with Linlai too! Nice.

Ask: keeping each other updated and informed here, I’ll trust this more.

At the moment, I am looking for an upgrade from my stock EH 6SN7s, but I am afraid that these are quite a bit out of my price range.

I'd love to hear 'em, though!

@decooney, I remember reading about the Grant/Psvane thing a while back. That being in the back of my mind,held me back from ordering a pair of the blue globe 6sn7’s. 

@rocray "He said they are very close to the Shuguangs."

I've heard similar from a colleague yet want to test it myself too, later. I've been following some of the musical chairs discussion about some design engineers bouncing from one factory to the next. After the founder of TJFM passed, some tooling was reportedly sold to PSVANE for their line of small signal tubes including CV181/6SN7s. They were making re-labeled tubes for at least 3 others, privately.

After watching GF drop PSVANE Premium pairs directly for Linlai, I wrapped up testing quads of TJFM 6SN7s this last year - ordered a pair of the newer PSVANE matched CV181-TIIs this week sourced directly overseas, someone i used prior. 

Would like to eventually compare the newer version PSVANE II to the Linlai version after I sell off some other stuff.

Keep us posted @rocray after some good burn-in occurs. Thx

This will be my first taste of Linlai’s. Unfortunately I can’t offer any opinions. 

Or the Linlai HiFi 6SN7s that Grant Fidelity is offering?

Examples of this tube that we have tried have been excellent. My exposure to this tube is recent; I'm interested to see how well they hold up- if they are good in this department then they are good deal at their price.

And one more question - any a you guys compared these to the Grant Fidelity "Treasure Globes"?

I was (and am) excited to see this thread. Then I looked at the prices. Ouch! You can buy a lot of vintage goodness for the price of a pair of these tubes. Really!

Having said that, next question is where are you guys buying your Linlai tubes?

No size issues with the Motherlode 

An adapter is needed to raise the Linlai so they can sit next to traditional size tubes. In most preamps tube sockets are close together.

 Is the 6sn7 taller than a traditional one. Im using NOS  RCa's...

Can't help with the 6sn7, but Linlai Elite 101D solid plates are best 101d out there. Good to hear there may be new 6sn7 to challenge NOS. At some point NOS tubes will cease to exist, we'll need new quality tubes to carry on.

@lowrider57,the gentleman that recommended the Linlai’s also runs a Don Sachs pre. He said they are very close to the Shuguangs. 
 

@debjit_g , thank you for the feedback. 

Iv ordered The Lin-Lais and the Globes too. Waiting to try them out.