It took a while but you're finally going to get an answer.
(gratuitous nerd crap sold separately)
I've been pining after this tube for a number of months, and while I looked at various recommended NOS tubes, Electro-Harmonix, and others, this giant premium balloon-shaped tube from Linlai kept calling to me. So I decided to go big, rather than amassing a collection of cheaper tubes with various pros and cons. Maybe this could be the one tube to rule them all?
I got this tube two days ago from Vivatubes.com, and have been running it in day and night since. It has close to 40 hours, so I feel ready to give some early impressions. I should note after the first several hours it developed audible hissing in the left channel, but I plowed ahead and it did eventually go away. This tube also plugs in very stiff. It doesn't "pop" into place, compared to other tubes, you basically shove it on there until it doesn't shove anymore.
By their nature I can't just hotswap and do rapid A+B+C comparisons, so take that as you will. I have to rely on notoriously fickle human auditory memory. That being said, my favorite tube for the Lyr+ so far has been the shouldered glass Psvane 6SN7 Black Plates, the regular one. It has a more aggressive, in-your-face presentation, with "Quick-n-Thick" bass, pronounced attack, that makes it very immersive and enjoyable to me. It demands your attention, and I'd characterize it as the solid state mode refined, with much more decay and soundstage depth & layering. Other tubes I tried such as the stock Tung-Sol, and a NOS Raytheon 6F8G w/adapter, will push the sound a little further out, giving the soundstage a little more space and allowing the sounds more breathing room. As a result they do separation and layering better than the Psvane, which can get a little congested by comparison, but they aren't as hard hitting in the bass or attack, and aren't as well suited to all music genres that might do better with more energy. I left the Psvane in because while not as refined in some ways, it does everything well, and is phenomenal with movies and gaming.
Alright, so how is the Linlai E-6SN7 doing? Well, I haven't tried any movies or games yet, but to my ears so far, it really IS the best of all worlds. You get back that refinement, fantastic layering and separation, and it tones back the aggression the Psvane had JUST a pinch, but it's still a very immediate, attention-grabbing sound. But what it's doing with decay and room reverb in recordings is....
MAGICAL. Holy cow is the realism in this regard bumped up a lot! Combined with the absolutely spot-on tonality, I'm getting some "so real it's scary" moments. Should the recording call for it, it throws out a HUGE soundscape. I had a lot of "Wow!" moments in this regard. The imaging is crazy too! I'm getting sounds extremely precisely placed in all areas 360 degrees around my head, and one song had a triangle or something that was RIGHT above my forehead. So yeah, height is playing a role here too.
The treble is
just right to my ears. The Arya Stealth that I've been using for initial listening doesn't take much to get hot in the treble, and in some recordings with the Psvane, it could be a touch
too much. The treble control on the Linlai tube is superb! Even on hot mastered tracks, it's more than tolerable on the Arya. The midrange is thick and seductive. Lower midrange gets just a touch of bloom to warm everything up and wrap you in a thick wool blanket. Bass has some added control as well, and to my ears it maybe doesn't hits as hard as the Psvane. But so far it's still strong, tight, quick, and perfectly extended into the sub regions, and it's imaged better as well.
I definitely think detail and texture get a slight bump as well. It's not shoving those in your face but they're easier to hear with this tube.
Did I mention this tube is massive for a 6SN7?
More to come as it continues to settle in and I try more things!
‘tubey, tubey, tube …’ 
(TubeRollers in the Night) 
