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Mark, like you say, no great loss if they do not fit everywhere. Also, they might mix nicely with the American Amperex in your systems.
I ordered 6H1Ns when this thread first came up from the same seller Steve mentioned later. Burned in in my CSP3 power positions, I enjoyed them...very good bottom definition, "big" sounding with nice detail and excellent spaciousness, nice midrange richness, warmth, and ambient information...but there is a little too much detail rigidity and midrange emphasis for me .... I kept craving micro detail to fill things out, feather edges and open the top a little more.
American Amperex 7308s can sound great too, natural sounding bass, and very quiet, revealing their seductive mids and upper mid textures and harmonics, but still I crave a more fine detail for better highs, more complex textures, faster nuance, and full spectrum spacial information.
The more I listen and read comments about other DACs, I realize my Tranquility DAC, as set up, is just really good at integrating fine detail with more obvious “courser” detail, and this may be a player in my interest in excellent micro information. I don’t know how specific this is to this DAC, but after a long time of refining the front end, I have proven to myself that more fine detail can contribute to solving the “detail” most of us cringe at when it is hard or sharp. Rather than reducing “detail” to solve “glare,” more micro detail can help solve it without masking.
Clearly not just tubes effect this. If it is not there at the source to begin with, or truncated along the way to the speakers, it is just not there. Particularly cables can “truncate” or mask fine detail. Also noise from power and vibration, not to mention room, often a big culprit in creating glare through amplification in that tonal region, and masking fine detail.
Having been picking up NOS tubes for many years, I have a lot of nice tubes. And in my system/room, though the 6H1Ns are really good for what they do, there are many tubes I like better.
Today, putting the Shuguangs in the CSP3 power position, their spacious power, big midrange, and bass definition made them seductive right off. I think I would say they are actually forgiving in bass. To make the Siemens E288CC I had been using closer in volume, I had to turn the front tube up a bit on the pots, or the master volume. [My most used input tube is an off-label PCC88 that I think is probably Telefunken. It has just a little extra clarity than many tubes, but is also really smooth, a little warm...musical. It is great for tuning the power tubes by turning the front pots up or down.] Comparing the 6H1N as power tubes, volume more-or-less matched, the Siemens have really good frequency balance, smoother detail, more spaciousness, faster, and notably more micro information...increasing texture, spacial information, harmonics, open highs...Aside from all the terms, they sound more like real music to me, more natural, complete and engaging.
My last CSP3 power tube was a particularly good sounding pair of Mullard E88CCs with parasol getters. Again, needing a little compensation with more volume, the Mullard is warmer than the E288CC and again provided much more subtle information than the Shuguang...more obvious textures than the Siemens, but I don't think that equates to more information...just a different feel….more “fine particles” with the Mullards from a warmer foundatoin. Some tubes this rich and warm can mask micro detail, but not these. In direct comparison to the 6H, the Mullard’s bass articulation is its downfall, but without comparison, the bass sounds natural if comparatively a little thick on some music. I think the 6H must not reveal all the bass information, skillfully clearing muddle, its bass attenuation very nicely done. A great quality here.
Finally, a tube I used for years off and on for the CSP3 power, a Sylvania made, Los Gatos labelled, late 50s D getter gold pin 6922...closer to the forwardness of the mids of the Shuguangs, but with more texture, spaciousness, and more balanced/complete ambient information. The Shuguangs focus more on the low to midrange ambience, again, missing fine detail. A very nice sound, but not complete.
In the MKIV Torii….comparing the Shuguangs to the 59 CBS labelled Siemens ECC88 I have been using, the Siemens are less dense and more balanced here…. less low-to-mid emphasis. Without hardness, they bring out notably more subtle information in balance, and great balance across the spectrum. More lucidity...spaciousness, texture, complete harmonic and ambient information, more air, all in part from excellent, quiet spaciousness that allows their exceptional micro detail to be experienced without pain. And with all that, they are pleasantly warm and nicely engaging...
Though I have tended to prefer 6922 or PCC88s for CSP3 power, I have never been a lover of 6922 types in the MKIV (in my system). I can enjoy them, but can’t say I ever prefer them for long. 6922 types just tend to be a little "too good" for me...a little big and articulate, whereas 6DJ8 or 7DJ8s are less forward, more spacious and textured, more to my liking. Like 6922s, the Shuguangs are nice, but a bit too big and pushy in my system/room in the Torii.
This whole preference thing is obviously system and room specific and preference based, and what works has changed over time for me. I finally seem to have accomplished some balance at smooth warmth without detail loss in the system/room in general. So even the cleanest input tubes are not as prone to being hard sounding as they once were. I think I have solved what many call glare elsewhere from input tubes, allowing me to savor detail on all levels with less fear of excess edginess or hardness. Still possible, but less-so.
The Shuguangs power makes them seductive in direct comparison, and I agree, they do have a really good spacious sound here, especially bass to mids. They also seem to have tonal qualities that make them a flexible tube, one that might work well in many settings if you are not like me, missing the fine detail. If they had more, I would very likely fall more deeply for them. But as-is, I have not been able to keep them in.
This does not mean they are not great tubes, just not what I am after at this point in my system/room. For 20 delivered though, ridiculously good.
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