@atmasphere 8,170 posts04-29-2020 9:00am
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The best sounding 6SN7s of current production are coming out of China. We’ve seen fairly short lives out of the Sophia tubes, but otherwise the Chinese boutique 6SN7s seem to hold up well. I would stay away from the Russian fare unless you are able to find 1960s-era Soviet 6SN7s which are excellent. ...
Yep, agree. Was hard to believe, but true on my end too. The past two years of CN tubes are improving for sure. After restocking up on vintage RCAs, Sylvanias, others, and recent TS re-issues - compared again recently. The new CN stuff is inching closer now. PSVANE acquired all tooling/methods from TJ Full Music [small tubes] after the old man passed. Now with the reported Shuguang fire last year, will be interesting to track new developments this year on 6SN7s, other 12Ax,t,u,7 tubes too. Re-trying some small CN PSVANE "T-Treasure MKII" version input tubes now, made in 2020, better than 2012-2016 versions I tried before. So what’s changed...hmmm. Kinda getting closer to my mid-1960s Blackburn Mullards, maybe improved in some ways too with midrange and wider soundstage. Maybe a tad less texture, more burn-in required. Was not expecting that. Re-evaluating periodically to check my own hearing or wondering if I was imagining it. Nope, not imagining it, inching closer :)
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