Grant Fidelity Treasure Globe 6SN7 SE

@markusthenaimnut You don't say what your preamp is, but in my experience rolling dozens of tubes across a half dozen amps and preamps there is simply no question in my mind that different tubes sound differently and some tubes sound much better.  Even the Schiit Freya manages to showcase different flavors of tube.  I would be curious what sort of circuit in a tube based preamp would completely negate the sonic contribution different tubes make?

Despite my skepticism, I went for a pair of the GF Treasure Globes about 6 mos. ago.  Frankly, they shocked me at how good they sound. 

I also have an excellent Aric Audio preamp (a "near" Motherlode II I would call it), and the Globes are as good as my favorite NOS 6F8G round plates (National Unions) in the preamp.  OK, I'd maybe a very, very slight nudge to preferring the NUs, HOWEVER, the Globes are tremendously quiet, very well balanced top to bottom with an awesome soundstage. The kicker is that the '40s round plate NUs are extremely hard to find, they are microphonic, and they get noisy quickly, like playing vinyl. The bottom line, after rolling multitudes of highly rated NOS 6SN7s, the GF Globes, though a bit on the expensive side, are the real deal (just give them 100-200 hours to get to their best).

I haven't heard the Linlai Elites, but would love to read a comparison between the two. Anyone??

I haven't heard the Linlai Elites, but would love to read a comparison between the two. Anyone??

We did a comparison and IMO they sounded very similar- and both excellent. However, the globe structure has a decided resonance that the Linlai does not. As long as you don't have microphonic problems its no worries, but any microphonics the tube has/might develop will be exacerbated by the resonance of the glass.

We did a comparison and IMO they sounded very similar- and both excellent. However, the globe structure has a decided resonance that the Linlai does not. As long as you don't have microphonic problems its no worries, but any microphonics the tube has/might develop will be exacerbated by the resonance of the glass

Thanks very much for the response, @atmasphere!  You mentioned they sounded similar.  Do you recall any specific differences besides the potential for microphonic issues?

Thankfully no microphonic issues exist in my GF Globes! Thanks @atmasphere !