Author: admin

Is the ‘Top 10% Best of Best Grade’ worth the money?

Posted adminPosted in - 6SN7 Tube Purchase Guide, Purchase Guide

You may have noticed that our tube offerings are priced to different gradings – the best, also the most expensive, grade is ‘Top 10% Best of Best Grade’ at a price premium over typical ‘factory QC pass grade’.

Is the ‘Top 10% Best of Best Grade’ worth the money? What are you paying for the best grade?

Tubes, like most bulk commodities, are graded according to their tested parameters from lab equipment. Although vacuum tubes are industrial products, they are not cookie-cutting universal exactly the same when rolling off the production line. Consider tubes like premium coffee beans: They are all coffee beans, but not all the same coffee beans, and are not sold at all the same price.

Tubes are hand-made products. Many human factors play into the final quality and lifespan of tubes. Tubes are also live creatures – they are not in static fixed state through their lifespan – they change with the environment they work in, and change itself unexpectedly like a ‘living creature’.

An example on 300B tubes:

A factory QC pass grade 300B tube can have 60-70% of full emission but still considered ‘QC pass’ by a tube factory. Our selected ‘top 10% Best of Best grade’ will have minimum 85% up to 110% of full emission. The top grade will have approximately extra 30%-50% emission (in comparison terms between the two grades) to allow your tubes last much much longer.

Additional screening of our ‘Top 10% Best of Best Grade’ also have matched transconductance to the best possible range and no other imperfections in tested specs.

Why called top 10%? Because these tubes only take about 10% of the entire tube production batch. They are rare and hard to come by, when ALL parameters considered.

This comparison on 300B grading also applies on other tube models.

If budget isn’t an issue, we as buyers would personally go with top 10% best of best grade on these high end tubes, to make sure to get the best possible commodity for longest time enjoyment. 

Hope this helps with your tube purchase selection!

Rachel @ Grant Fidelity

Can your 6SN7 replace my 6SN7GT, 6SN7GTA, 6SN7GTB?

Posted adminPosted in - 6SN7 / CV181, - 6SN7 Tube Purchase Guide, Purchase Guide

We sometimes receive amp owners question about tube substitute related to 6SN7. Here is a short summary:

  1. GT stands for ‘Glass Tube’.
  2. GTA is an enhanced version of original GT version – to allow higher plate dissipation than the GT version.
  3. GTB is variant of GTA, with a heater warmer control to further enhance reliability when this tube was used in TVs.
  4. Very early 6SN7 tubes can handle max 300V. Today’s new production 6SN7 tubes can handle max 450V.
  5. In short, new production 6SN7 can replace your old 6SN7 without frying the tubes. But you should not use a NOS 6SN7 designed to handle 300V, into a modern circuit of 450V.
  6. All our listed 6SN7 tubes (no matter what suffix it has) can electronically replace 6SN7GT, 6SN7GTA, and 6SN7GTB.
  7. Do check dimension clearance to make sure the different glass bulb shape can fit into your amp space!

Happy tube rolling!

We are ‘Global Shopping Friendly’: Multiple Currencies & EU / UK Zone

Posted adminPosted in Recent News

We now offer multi-currency shopping to worldwide customers in US$, Euro €, and CAD$!

You can simply select your desired currency on the right side of this website, and view all product pricing in that currency, shop and make payment in that currency. 

Currency exchange rate is updated EVERY MINUTE in real time, as per global foreign exchange market. (Please note exchange rate posted on xe.com is for mid-market rate reference only. Retail banking exchange rate is usually higher with a retail banking spread added by the banks.)

We have also added ‘Direct bank transfer’ payment in US$, Euro and CAD$ method besides Paypal & Credit Card payment methods. 

For EU/UK zone customers, starting Jan 1st, 2021 for UK and July 1st, 2021 for EU, we will not ship any orders valued BELOW 150 Euro or 135GBP due to new VAT regulations implemented in these regions. Orders above these value threshold will not be affected and will be shipped as usual. 

For EU/UK zone customers, we strongly suggest customers to choose ‘Express DHL’ shipment method. Although paying a small extra cost than other shipping methods, you will have real time full tracking from start to finish, the fastest shipping transit time and customs clearance in destination country is automatically done by courier DHL Express with digital invoice pre-submitted by us – no need to line up at a local postal office for pickup and if any tax amount due, you usually can pay it before delivery date online with DHL. It is time saving and hassle saving! 

Happy Listening and Happy Global Shopping!

Grant Fidelity

6SN7SE Globe Tube Tips – ‘You Raise Me Up’

Posted adminPosted in - 6SN7 / CV181, - 6SN7 Tube Purchase Guide, Purchase Guide

Some amps have preamp 6SN7 tubes placed in a very tight real estate – i.e. two tubes are placed very closely to each other so the new high end 6SN7 with curved larger / wider glass enclosure cannot fit in side by side.

A customer from Europe recently told me his solution and I think it is worthwhile to share! That is – use a socket saver to raise one of the tubes up!

Just google ‘8 pin socket saver’ (not ‘socket adapter’ which may change pin layout connections) and make sure to purchase from a reputable audio parts vendor. Some lower quality socket saver can introduce current leakage to your circuit and cause unexpected noise issues.

Happy Listening!

6SN7SE Globe – ‘The SE blows them all out of the water’

Posted adminPosted in - 6SN7 / CV181, Reviews by Tube Model

Feedback received from Craig M. on GF Special Edition – Treasure 6SN7SE Globe:

“Rachel,
I got my SE’s today!  I must say … I have spent a LOT of money on boutique 6SN7 variants and I have never heard anything like this before!  I am running a DIY 6SN7 line stage that was designed by Jack Elliano of Electra-Print.  This is by far the best 6SN7 I have ever heard.  I have NOS Sylvania Bad Boys, TJ, Black Treasure, various JAN and there is NO comparison!  The SE blows them all out of the water…”

Hear what the cable pro said about [Linlai™ Global] E-845….. ‘real keepers!’

Posted adminPosted in Recent News, - 845 all types, Purchase Guide

Eric D. from France is an industry pro specialized in ultra high end cabling. His audition skills are professional and field proven, and here is what he said about after owning a pair of [Linlai™ Global] E-845 top grade tubes:

“The Linlai E-845s are very nicely built. You can tell by looking inside
the glass tube that they are manufactured with care. When brand new,
they performed nicely, but it was after about 120 to 150 hours that they
really came alive. They really need that burn-in time to reveal their
full potential. I’m not the patient type, but this time I was glad I
waited.

All the qualities the best 845s are renowned for are there. Let’s talk about dynamics first : a bit timid during the burn-in time, dynamics become quite exceptional after 100hrs and when tubes and amp reach their optimal operating temperature. They are extremely fast, with lots of impact and speed, speed and more speed. Extension in the bass is quite impressive and treble is exactly what you expect : not a trace of harshness but lots of details. Midrange is just exceptional, voices come alive to a point that I’ve very rarely experienced before. The timbres of acoustic instrument are very real, and that is quite obvious on violin or cello.

Soundstaging is outstanding, both in depth, width and accuracy. And there’s air between the instruments, something you can only hear when you are in the presence of real high-end gear. Pitch-black silence is another telltale sign of that.

On rock or blues, you can easily identify what guitar or amp is being played. A Strat sounds like a Strat, and there’s no mistaking a Les Paul or a Tele for anything else.

Comparing them to a pair of RCAs a friend brought around, the Linlai E-845s did at least as good as them in all fields, but they have a greater sense of immediacy, something that makes you feel more connected to the music….

Thanks a lot Rachel, those tubes are real keepers!

Cheers,

Eric”

Positive Feedback review: Linlai™ Global E-300B vs. Psvane ACME300B

Posted adminPosted in - 300B all types, Recent News, Purchase Guide

Review Juan C. Ayllon spent time with both tubes on his ultra high end Lampizator Big 7 Mk1 Digital to Analog Converter for ‘An Aural Indulgence‘

  • “If vacuum tubes were wine, the Linlai would be a sophisticated French red Bordeaux blend from the Left Bank of the river Garrone in Bordeaux, France, while the ACME would be a top shelf Cabernet Sauvignon from California’s Napa Valley served in posh steakhouses. 
  • Don’t get me wrong; both the Linlai E-300B and the Psvane ACME 300B render rich, well-balanced presentations, and if I were not making conscious A to B comparisons, it would be easy to miss the differences. And, either vacuum tube will deliver luxuriant listening pleasures worthy of the most discriminating audiophile, enhancing high end tube gear performance and pairing them nicely with highly resolving components like the Pass Labs XP-12 preamplifier or X250.8 amplifier for a spectacular aural finish…”

Read the FULL REVIEW here.