User Feedback for Sophia Electric Blue Glass 6SN7 Tubes

Just wanted to tell you the Sophia Blue Glass 6SN7 tubes are outstanding in my amp! I bought a pair to possibly use in my preamp but tried it as the driver tube in my amp first (replacing a Sylvania Bad Boy) to get a handle on its sound. Well, it's staying right where it is. It cleared up the midrange congestion I've been struggling with which is exactly what I was hoping for, clarity, speed, detail, and a sweet but not syrupy midrange. I've tried several other mid priced tubes both new and NOS over the last six months and all were too rolled off or hyper detailed and harsh. These blue tubes are just perfect!

Terry, Michigan
Sophia Electric,

I received the order and have used the tubes.

I was replacing a set of Sophia clear glass 6SN7 tubes which I felt one was loosing its value and was 2db quieter that the other.

I elected on getting the 10% matched pair (Grade A) of the new style Blue tubes.

After careful warming of the tubes I started using them in a Modwright modified OPPO BDP-105 CD player. I was not expecting much difference in what I had before. I was so very wrong. I am absolutely gobsmacked at the difference.

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. Everything was different.

All of the tones, harmonics, decays from the music was now there to hear. Everything from top to bottom was given more life air and rightness. I tried all types of music from acoustic guitar, folk, new-age, live rock to classical. All of the music was vastly improved, everything more of a whole. And some of these are just run of the mill Redbook CDs. This is just stunning to me that these tubes have taken this somewhat modest setup and made it world class maybe even reference class. Amazing.

You have really created something special here. I am so glad I tried these tubes and can now stop trying to convince myself to purchase a $10,000.00+ CD player. I now feel I have it for the cost of a tube upgrade.

Michael from Washington
From Audiogon Furum: "The Aqua 274B was a transformation in my Modwright Marantz SA 8005 SACD Player with a 9.0 PS; it was like a DAC upgrade in comparison to Mullards, Create, Gold Lion, Tungsol and Philips which was my 2nd best sounding tube.

The Sophia 6SN7 Blue tubes were utilized in both my tube amp and tube pre-amp and sounded better than my Sylvania VT 231, Sylvania W, Sylvania WGTA, Slyvania Bad Boys, Chrome Domes, Ken Rads, RCA 5692, CV-181 and Raytheon VT-231 Gray Glass; better imaging, detail, deeper and wider sound stage with lower floor noise but it’s the musicality that draws you in...

Also, the Sophia Blue KT88 beats all of my back-ups with a much more refined presentation and pin-point placement of images with-in the soundstage with more vivid colors and life-like sound quality, it just sounds real; compared to Ruby, Golden Voice, KT88Z and Gold Lions.

These Sophia tubes just have everything to include dimensionality, clarity, richness and warmth without sounding slow, bloated or congested and at some point will fill the remaining 6SN7s positions in both amp and pre :)

Wig

We have seen great strides in development of state-of-the art capacitors, resistors, transformers from Mundorf, V-Caps, Vishay and others. These latest electronic parts are lowering the noise floor, expanding the frequencies in the high treble and low bass, and adding extraordinary imaging clarity and spatial transparency to the music. Unless we have similar advancements in new generation of tubes, it won’t matter. We will be dependent on the NOS tubes designs from the 1950s or 60s to provide musical truths.

I am glad to see Sophia Electric is taking tubes to new heights to companion the latest circuitry. The original Sophia 6SN7 from 2015 is a worthy substitute for the Mullard CV181 with its transparency, speed and superb bass. But I did experience the Sophia 6SN7 I purchased in 2017 had a shorter life after 6 months of play. Sophia Electric had informed me that the new blue glass 6SN7 would address the longevity issue. So I waited.

I have to admit after using the new blue glass Sophia 6SN7 for 200 hours that it is a phenomenal upgrade. It’s like buying a new amp or preamp. The ability for this blue glass tube to generate large life size images and wall-to-wall sound staging is outstanding. Each instrument and every voice from my LPs have improved with rich dimensional tonality. The trumpet, the sax, the drums, soprano and chorus of singers are endowed with a body of sculptured power and natural sound solidity.

Wow what amplification from this blue glass tube. My current collection of Music Matters Blue Note LPs has gone through a transformative new listening presentation. All the jazz instruments have a full dimensional 3D muscle punch to its sound. The trumpet and sax have a rich golden brassy bloom. You do feel the air coming off the instruments with a warmth sensation. The singers’ voices have no restrictions of fidelity. It’s a full embodiment of human emotion and breathy feel you can touch.

I am happy to find that the blue glass 6SN7 is an amazing tube for mono recordings. I can’t stop listening to the original Capitol Records Nathan Milstein’s playing the Bach solo violin sonata and partitas on the first pressing green-gold label. The holographic glow of the violin sound is huge and detail like a stereophonic recording. The violin interaction with the microphone is clearly located in captured space. Some of the mono Thelonious Monk recordings on Riverside label are reborn with breathtaking addictive sounds.

You will never forget when a component has the ability to fool you. As I was listening to one of the Blue Note LP, the left side of the speakers was a live with the trumpet but the right speaker was completely dark quiet. After a few moments went by I decided to check the connection if the right channel had gone bad. As I got up for a look-see, the sax started to play on the right speaker and rejoin the jam. Now that is impressive of a dead silent tube.

It’s quite remarkable that this tube has the ability to capture a dead silent space, instead of a filtered emptiness from most solid state. You get a sense of this black matter space with this tube. There is a silence of dark body natural presence from this tube. Just imagine you are recording with an open mic with no music. What a performer!

The music dynamic explosiveness from softness to loudness is astonishing. This tube has the ability to jump at you in split lightning seconds. But the true amazement is it carries the bloom of the ambiance airwaves as a part of the explosion. The high peak and decaying ambiance notes have weight that surrounds each instruments and voices. You can feel the gentle airy brush strokes of the bristle hairs from live nightclub recording like Jazz at Pawnshop record. Big Band music like the Mobile Fidelity LP Count Basie Live at the Sands is fabulously sounding, well it’s like you are sitting in the old Sands Hotel.

No doubt transparency is the domain of great solid state as most tubes do have tiny residual noise. When I listened to the TAS HP records like the gigantic Mahler Symphony 8 by Solti and the Chicago Symphony with the massive Vienna State Opera, Singverein Chorus and Vienna Boys Choir, the blue glass 6SN7 performed without any edginess or strained brittleness. It was clean and clear from this recording. The tube has a transparency of a solid state.

My experience is some of the great NOS don’t weaken quickly. Is the blue glass 6SN7 Sophia built for longevity? The blue glass Sophia 6SN7 is design for cool running and reduction in EMI and RFI interferences. I did touch the blue tube glass after 5 hours of play and I was able to feel the warmth. The old Sophia high heat will burn your fingers. We shall see if a year from now the new blue glass 6SN7 retains its measurement strength on my Hickok 539C tube tester.

The blue glass 6SN7 is costly but a quality high-end performer to justify the upgrade. More importantly, you are going to have fun.

Thanks,

Morgan Hew
Studio City, California

I love the blue glass 6SN7 tubes. They are a definite improvement over the regular Sophia 6SN7 that I had peviously in my amps. The new 6SN7s work beautifully with the blue glass 300b and 274B tubes I have in the amps. Music has a natural flow and instruments and voices sound so real. I have tried many 6sn7s and I have to say your blue glass version is the best I have yet to hear in my 300b amps. Congratulations.

Jim from Washington, D.C.

WOWIE ZOWIE! This thing sounds sooooo perfect in my Bob Latino ST-120 amp.

I've tried CBS Hytron 5692, Sylvania Chrome Dome, Ratheon and Russian 6H8C. Until now, the Sylvania's were my favorite. Decently clean and clear with a good amount of tube lushness and sparkle. I'd read online about Sophia Electric 6SN7 tubes and thought I'd give them a shot. I first tried the old, clear-glass 6SN7 tube. Pretty good. Cleaner, clearer with better speed and depth than any NOS tubes I had tried. Impressive. It was just lacking a bit of that 6SN7 lushness. Then a put in the blue glass 6SN7... this was EXACTLY what I had been looking for. Like the old style, it was clean and clear with a very black background and no hint of grain, but it sounded like a TUBE. Guitars and percussions got their weight back. Bass was bold and pronounced, but still tight and well defined. I remember listening to Weezer's Say It Ain't So on vinyl. The weight and crunch of the guitars was so real, I could almost SEE the amps. It was unreal.

All that to say, I could not be happier with this tube. Thank you guys so much for making such an amazing product!

David from California