6SN7 Tube Rolling. Should you change your tubes?
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- Опубліковано 4 вер 2023
- 6SN7 Tube Rolling. Should you change your tubes?
So many of us have tube based preamps, DACs, and Amps. One of the most popular preamp tubes is 6SN7. Many different brands and NOS ones are available but if your preamp came as standard with Electro Harmonix 6SN7 should you change them to something different?
In this vide we test 6 different 6SN7 Tubes - Tung Sol 6SN7, Electro Harmonix 6SN7, Lin Lai 6SN7, JJ 6SN7, RCA 6SN7 and PSVANE CV181-Tii
So which one do you like best ?
Please let me know in the comment below.
Cube Fullrange speakers visit - www.cubeaudio.com
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DAC - Lampizator Baltic 4 - www.lampizatorpoland.com/kopi...
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Linlai has a bit more darker character which I like ,psvane have most separation and musicality
This makes me much more confident in my JJ purchase
Glad I could help 🙂
great review! to my ears, JJ tung sol and psvane are my top 3. the rest sounded regular.
No way to tell from just youtube. I can guarantee you JJs just sound vanilla in real life. Nothing bad but nothing great either. So many better tubes out there than the JJs....
I have a Chinese made amp using the Psvane Art Tubes just ordered some Philips and Siemens to swap out. I did like the sound of the Psvane in your system 👍🏼
Thank you very much for the comment ;)
Psvane clearly to my ears
Thanks. I like PSvane alot as well ;)
Would like to hear which one you liked more. Make a list from best to so-so. JJ, EH more forward, Linlai laid back. Hard to hear big differences through UA-cam
Noted! The Laminator came with Linlai and it's ok but I prefer the PSvane181 a bit more. For budget ones I'd go for TungSol since they had the most richness and slam in that category
RCA first place, Tungsol in second place for smoother and details...
Thanks for sharing
Thank you for share this useful review~❤
thank you for watching and sharing your feedback ;)
Very nice sample and very nice speakers! Honestly, I find that the JJ has the best attack, everything is very (too?) clean, poised and incisive, the bases are very taut. The Tung-sol follows it quite closely (I have it on my VTA-SP14 preamp), it had the same characteristics as the JJ at the beginning of the break-in, it was as if there was air around the instruments, they relaxed with time. Then the CV181 seems to me to be perhaps the most balanced of the set, the most natural; it's softer than the previous ones but retains an excellent level of detail. It's a good thing I'm looking for an alternative to the Tung-Sol! I think I'll go for the JJs... AND the CV181s 😉
Note that I built a copy of the Cube Audio Bliss with the FC8, it's a killer!
Great to see your feedback. That is very interesting. I'm using Linlai bit if i were to buy new tubes I'd probably go with 181Cvs ;)
The best in more or less that order: PSVANE (the winner!), Tung Sol, Electro Harmonix, RCA
Thanks for sharing. I liket the PSVANE as well. Great tube ;)
Many thanks, my favorites are the psvane, much more musical, fullness and euphony. 2d,the tungsols are good also, a little bit more firmness, 3d : Rca, a rather good compromise between the psvane and the tungsols. the less good for me is the electro harmonix...
Thanks for sharing! I also liked the PSVane very much. If my lampizator wouldn't come with LinLei id but the PSVane for my taste ;)
Linlai hifi or E series ?
I like my 1955 RCA black plate side getter 6SN7GTB
EH most dynamic, details but might not suit for tube fan. JJ is a bit muddy and suit for Bass Head (EDM). Linlai is better than JJ, dark, holo but not very details. Psvane is well fine but seems a bit flat. RCA is balance, i preferred for my taste. Tung-sol is nice round 3D but lack of bass. 😅
thanks for sharing your comment ;)
linlai. im not sure if, in the long run, theyd sound the best, but it the linlai gave the most notable difference in air, sparkle, clarity
I have them as default in my Lampizator and they are indeed very equal. when I had cv181 I think I liked it more. it has even more body, but after some time now I live with linlei and are happy with it ;)
i know that one chinese manufacturer has started calling their more expensive CV181. are you talking about a real cv181 or @@VirtualHiFi or a premium chinese 6NS7?
Is your Linlai horizontal gold lettering or vertical black? It's pretty incredible. PSVANE MKII gets 2nd place.
Very nice but if you add some refinement to the sound will be great. How far are the MICs from the speakers ?
I want to keep the sound as raw as possible. So I only cut it and do not EQ in post-production. So the Vs videos are more useful and I'll do more of them for sure. I place the mics around 50-70 cm from speakers
The Linlai limiting the 1-3khz (voice freq.,als0 wind instruments like a sax)and sounds like a transistor (flat). The others has their own karakter and you can separate each instrument separately and walk around it, lots of dynamics
Thanks for sharing your feedback. ;)
@@VirtualHiFithank you for your vid!
Hello nice review,question :are all the tubes tested for(equall) mutual conductance?
Sorry I just switched the tubes without any additional adjustments
Oke thanks,do considder to match the tubes first because you will get not a clear vision on the difference between all the tubes,for example i use a 6922 in my dac with matched EHX 6922 they sound superb to the not matched 7308jan sylvania.
Thanks for the feedback. I'll try to do my best for the next videos ;)
Interesting comparison. The 2 types of tubes I am familiar with did show some of their sonic character in the video. For fun I looked up a few of the tracks, and played them directly off Qobuz to compare with the video. Unfortunately, some of the most important aspects of the music don't come across in the music, such as the width/depth of the soundstage, relative positioning, and more. I am quite curious if the differences between tubes would be any more audible if the output of the DAC was sent directly to a ADC, then matched to the video layers? I do find these videos very interesting and quite relevant, but I am wondering if the methodology could be improved. Either way, many thanks!
It will help if downloadable version is available. I don't hear a difference out of a UA-cam video.
Will try to introduce that but have to figure out good storage and sharing option ;)
RCA is the winner here better detail , and smooth
Thanks for sharing ;)
I end up buying the. LIN LAI E 6sn7 after hours reading forum review. . New tube less problem can continue use for many more years and I like mushroom shape tube 😊 like good at my Cary SIL-80 signature
High recommended u test our the shuguang WE KT88 PLUS tube ..is the best KT88 it tested so far amazing detail. Smoothness too bad no one make any video compare
cant hear no difference, which is maybe good for my wallet 🤣
Yes definitely the differences are there but if I were to get tubes I'd go for the PSVane and be happy fella without stretching the budget ;)
@lHiFi Haha, good comment. Actually i just got some PSVane EL34's, on my new "cheap" single ended chi-fi tube amp (oldchen el34 amp). Rectifier is the PSVane 5U4G. Input tubes are PSVane 6SN7GT, but i replaced those after one week of use just for kicks with a russian "not so new" 6N8S's, year '72 from ebay sold as "NOS". Those are looking so dirty, i bet no way in hell they are New Old Stock, but they work just fine and sound good 🤣 Anyhow, always good idea to have a few spares. Also got some used EL34 current prod Mullards for backups. i'm running pretty sensitive speakers, Klipch Heresy. Have a nice weekened ! 👍
Bad speakers, i don´t hear any difference. Try it on quality speakers next time.
Thanks for sharing your opinion
You're welcome, low efficient speakers can ruin the tube amplifier´s sound. On 20 cm speakers i don´t hear any difference, but on Jensen 30 cm p12s are differences of my tubes are heard absolutely clear.
Excellent test session, i clearly hear a different sound signature of each tube on my system and with earplugs. My vote for the Psvane, detailed, full and best midrange, lovely female vocals wich are my compass to choose audio equipment. Thanks a lot your very useful videos!