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

128x128rocray

I highly recommend giving these tubes plenty of saddle time.  I found they really shine with at least 100 or so hours. I’m looking forward to hearing your impressions with some hours on them.

@rocray I’ll definitely report back. I’ve had a lot of experience with 6SN7 and owned a number of Ken Rad Black Glass VT-231 and while they had wonderful tone, I always found them to be a bit rolled off on the extremes which I could never live with. I tend to gravitate more to the Sylvania VT-231, which have better slam, linearity and detail, and those are what these Linlai are replacing. If the Linlai can bring the tone of the Ken Rad with the tightness and detail of the Sylvania VT-231, I’m going to have a sure winner. 

@300bdude I think I you will be very pleased. Mine are broken in now in my T+A S10 and the amplifier sounds spectacular. It is a different beast than my T+A HV reference series amplification but neither are overall better than the other across the board. The tube upgrade in the S10 brought the performance and presence up a level. 

I purchased a pair of Linlai tubes (from Grant Fidelity).  I had my preamp serviced recently and discovered the tubes test low.  The technician stated they tested lower than any other 12 or 6SN7 that he’s tested.  And this was coming from a tube audio manufacture that utilizes a David Berning design.  The tester reached out to Grant Fidelity to determine why this was the case given the tubes were purchased in Sept. 2022 and it’s October 2023 (13 months).  He didn’t receive feedback to date. Caveat Emptor.  I contacted the company and this is the received response:  For within warranty period, please read below for our position of 3rd party measurement. Tube factory maintains its own product quality control and credibility to its own measurement procedure. 

https://linlaiglobal.com/index.php/warranty/

Product test measurements: We do NOT accept any customer or 3rd party’s test measurement, on any brands of test equipment as the basis of warranty claim. If you do not agree with our test methods or test measurements, please do NOT place an order with us. By placing an order on our website, you have expressed explicit agreement to our product test methods and test measurements. This term cannot be re-negotiated AFTER an order is placed.

 

Regards, 

[Linlai™ Global]