What's been your experience with New Chinese 6SN7 tube options?


By all reports, there's been a good bit of movement of talent with the Chinese tube manufacturers.  Have you tried any of their offerings and in particular 6SN7 tubes?

PSVANE

Linlai

Shuguang 

128x128jbhiller

Shuguang is out of business due to a fire at their facility. I'd love to try their tubes, but due diligence is required because the available stock for sale are leftovers and may not have good test results.

This is a long read, but lots of info about buying Linlai 6SN7 tubes.

 

Really like/love the Shuguang WE6SN7 replica tubes in my Dennis Had Inspire headphone/preamp and use that piece in both modes. Bought a set off ebay from a Chinese vender with great results and after the plant burnt was able to buy a slightly used pair that were sourced from Grant Fidelity as back ups.

I recently bought an amp that uses 6sn7 and have been doing the required (extensive) research.  A friend who I trust says the 6SN7-SE Treasure Globe from premiumvacuumtubes.com is the best 6SN7 he has ever heard.  I do trust his opinion a lot.  $225 ea.

I'll be watching for other opinions on this thread. thanks.

Jerry

I have had great luck with the Linlai Elite E6SN7. This has turned out to be my go to tube in my preamp. 

Thank you for all of this intel!!! Keep chiming in.  It seems we have to look to China for alternatives given the war in Ukraine, and China looks to be upping its offerings.  

I've been using the Linlai Elite from Grant Fidelity in my integrated amp and they sound really sweet. I tried them in the Freya + and they were OK but sounded better in my integrated amp. The Shugang WE 6sn7 were also OK in the Freya but a little congested in the bottom end. Just received some PSvane 6sn7 from Viva Tubes and they will need a lot of breaking in. The sound was restrained from top to bottom. So far, the best is Silvania 6sn7's. Great tone!

Running Linlai 6SN7 tubes in my Supratek preamp.  This tube runs circles around the stock tube.  Also put this tube in my Black Ice hybrid preamp.  The Linlai is a stellar tube.

As a follow-up, I just received a pair of Linlai E-6SN7s.  Right out of the box (oh, they come in a beautiful box) they sound really good.  I'm very curious to see if they break in. They sound particularly smooth and warm with just a right amount of air on top new.  

 

These tubes could be my new favorite and make me abandon NOS.  Thank you everyone!

Running the Linlai 6SN7 in my Aric Audio preamp. They match or better many of the NOS tubes I have tried.  They are my "go to" tube for the Aric.

I've now also tried PSVANE's 6sn7 BE (blue globes).  These are somewhere near their middle of the range of tubes by price and offering.  They sound pretty darn good.  A good quality inexpensive (relatively) option.

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