What's the best 6NS7 tube you have tried in your Atma-Sphere MP-3 preamp?

If you can get them, do so. One of the best in my opinion. They are better than the Sylvania VT-231 and other 2 hole Sylvania tubes as well, to me.

These are killer Sylvania 6SN7GT Bad Boys tubes with bass control beyond any other tube. Nowhere will you get the vocal sparkle these give you, believe the hype, these are performers; and their ability to involve the listener in a 3D soundstage we audiophiles love is unmatched.

These bad boys are an inexpensive way to vastly improve the sound of your system as they are better than the more expensive Sylvania 1940ish 6SN7GT/6SN7W Metal base versions IMHO, a tube rollers dream.

I’ve read good things about the Linlai Elite 6SN7’s can anyone compare them to NOS Sylvania 6SN7 Bad Boys and these tubes I’ve seen on LTA’s website the Ray Tubes 6SN7 RESERVE’s? LTA is the manufacturer of the Microzotl brand audio gear.

For some reason the moderators took down my previous post so I’ll try this again.

I tried 4 different pairs of different makes and brands of 6SN7 tubes and the synergy with my MICROZOTL MZ3 Headphone Amp / Preamp / Integrated Amp with the Sylvania 6SN7GT Bad Boys and/or Sylvania JAN-CHS-6SN7GT Bad Boys are some of the best sounding tubes I’ve ever heard. So I finally settled on the Bad Boys. These are the key distinguishing features to recognize a Bad Boy tube.

1) 3 hole black T plates

2) Bottom getter flashing 1/3 way up the tube

3) Shiny silver top and bottom rectangular mica. The top mica has three small triangular edges bent down on each side.

4) Copper grid posts

5) Date code of 2xx(or possibly 1xx or 3xx) were 1, 2 or 3 represent 1951, 1952 or 1953 and xx represents the week.

6) Full black bottom base with Sylvania 6SN7GT and/or Sylvania JAN-CHS-6SN7GT in green letters. And yes the Sylvania JAN-CHS-6SN7GT with full black bottom base with green lettering are also Bad Boys. So you’ve actually have two options here.

7) Look for the tall bottle versions only.

‘JAN’ stands for ‘Joint Army-Navy’, and was meant to indicate that the tubes labeled as such were ‘passed’ for military use. However, no additional criteria that were not already fulfilled by the 6SN7GT specification were known to have been imposed. ‘JAN’ labeled tubes are identical to non-JAN tubes of the same vintage and construction.

Sylvania 6SN7GT and the Sylvania JAN-CHS-6SN7GT Bad Boys [3 holes in each plate, copper grid posts, bottom getter, green labels, black base and plates, vertical date code (read from top-down) ‘2xx’ with ‘xx’ representing week #, ’polished’ silvery rectangular mica]

The Sylvania 6SN7-GT and the Sylvania JAN-CHS-6SN7GT Bad Boys was made from late 1951, week 39 ("1/39") to early 1953, week 13 ("3/13"). They have black T-plates -3 holes, Copper grids, Bottom getter, "polished" rectangular mica, green labels on black base.

@immatthewj,

Matt no worries, I’m just glad the moderator’s had to good sense to leave my post alone this time. It’s very easy to get a tube you thought is a Bad Boy and it is not, and it’s just as easy to miss out on a Bad Boy because you’re under the impression that only the '52’s are Bad Boys.