Help with a busted MSV11-L?

PS: When buying replacement chips, since many are NOS, which manufacturers should be avoided, and which are good? I recall there was some discussion on here a while back about the topic of which vendors seemed to have the most problems with chips failing, but I can't find it (and a bit of Google searching couldn't turn up anything on the topic - all my searches turned up too much other stuff). And should I always install the replacements in sockets, or is it OK to just go ahead and solder them straight in? (The socket obviously doesn't cost much, and I'm less likely to damage the chip installing it like that, and of course if I get it in and it's U/S, it's easy to swap out from a socket, but I'm wondering if the use of a socket has any downside, electrically.) Again, thanks for any advice (and I won't be surprised if the last starts the usual debate... :-) Noel