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Best sounding resistors

I'm working on building another DIY preamp and am interested in opinions on the best sounding resistors, and specifically what sound characteristics you thought the resistors conveyed. These will be used in a balanced SS preamp with an op-amp based unity gain input buffer (instrumentation style) feeding a Khozmo shunt attenuator, with an output/gain stage using differential jfet input and single-ended class A mosfet output. 

I know there are plenty of people that think a resistor is a resistor and it's a total waste of money to buy "audiophile" parts. I have personally experienced a noticeable difference between various resistors, so I don't really want to get into that argument. And please don't ask about double blind testing or proving the difference with measurements. 

I'm particularly interested in your experience with the following types.

Amtrans AMRG
AudioNote Non-Magnetic Tantalum
Caddock MK132/MK232 thick film 
Riken RikenOhm carbon film
Takman REX carbon film
Takman REY metal film
Vishay Z-foil

I have some experience with the Takman and Vishay Z-foil resistors, and have already ordered a Khozmo attenuator with Takman REY shunt resistors. I will install the series resistors and am currently planning on Vishay Z-foil. The Takman REYs were Arek's (Khozmo proprietor) recommendation. 

My current preamp (DIY) uses mostly Vishay Z-foils and I do love the detail and airiness these provide, but the new preamp I am building requires a lot of values that are not currently available in the Z-foils. It also requires considerably more resistors, and the Z-foils are quite pricey. I am currently leaning toward a mix of Z-foils and Takman REY parts, but I'd love to hear about your experience and opinions.

Thanks,
Jay
128x128jaytor
dgarretson
2,598 posts
 
If you can justify the price and resistances are <100K, the Vishay/Texas Components TX2575/Charcroft CAR Z-foil equivalents are the most transparent, surpassing MK-132. If cost is a factor, consider Welwyn-- very sweet and clean. I recently used them in Pass amp camp kit monoblocks. No regrets.

Charcroft/ClarityCap OEM Sales
jaytor's avatar
jaytor OP
765 posts
 
Thanks. Is there an online retailer for the Charcroft CAR resistors?
petg60
1,486 posts
 
Hifi collective, UK based, nice to deal with them.

G
pragmasi
212 posts
 
If money is no object then bulk foil are pretty unbeatable - however are probably not worth the expense across the board. The greatest benefit is the low temperature coefficient so worth it when they'll be dissipating some heat or near another component that will.
I use vishay thin film 0.1% as standard, they come in the e192 values so no problem with values up to 1MΩ and easy to find with 10-25ppm tempco.
If you're not already planning to do so then you might want to consider using multiple, parallel op amps in the input stage and going for the lowest resistor values you can get away with in the attenuator.  I'm currently using a 500Ω attenuator which will contribute around -128dBv noise... compared to a 10kΩ attenuator which would come out at around -115dBv.

jaytor's avatar
jaytor OP
765 posts
 
@pragmasi - Thanks for your response. I agree the Vishay thin films sound great. I am going to try to use these in as many places in the signal path I can. 

I am using the Salas DCG3 circuit for the output stage (in a balanced configuration) and this works best with a source impedance of 5K, so that is what I selected for my attenuator. But I am running fully balanced (two attenuator banks per channel), so this will help with the resistor noise. 

@petg60 - Thanks for the suggestion of Hifi Collective as a retailer. 
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