AN Niobium versus Tantalum resistors?

listen for yourself, and don‘t buy into the boutiques sound better everywhere trap. Work out where you need to spend the money

Just went through some resistor comparisons between choices for Khozmo and Hattor preamps and my SMc buffer.  I have not tried the AN Niobium resistors.

In my Hattor preamps, I tried the Takman metal film and liked the sound but I actually liked the Amtrans AMRG Carbon Film Resistors better.  They just sound so musical in the Hattor Big preamp compared to the Takman REY metal film resistors in my Khozmo passive, which also sound good but more precise.  I have not tried Takman REX carbon resistors.

 In my SMc buffer/preamp, the volume control (that I removed from the circuit) used AN Tantalum resistors, which were very musical with a smooth groove.  I replaced the VC in the circuit with two Audio Note Silver Tantalum non-magnetic 2W resistors .  Those AN silver resistors sound very nice having body, resolution, and musicality.   In summary, my favorites (of what I have heard) for preamp use are the Amtrans AMRG Carbon Film Resistors and the Audio Note Silver Tantalum non-magnetic 2W resistors.

Now, the best resistors I've used are the Texas Component TX2575 (Vishay z foil). For transparency and resolving powers none better.

absolutely brilliant as the shunt resistor in a stepped attenuator. If you put them everywhere the effect can be a bit OTT. YMMV

MItch2 - I have to imagine the Amtrans carbon have a similar sound to the Takman carbon..I tried a tiny Amtrans picoF film cap and it was too wishy washy for me in this application. So I am not sure what to think of Amtrans. Musically rich...but too veiled. Seems a very specific sound, in some ways a shortcut to tubes if you put them in a class D.

I am passing on naked resistors due to a point Takman brought up in their papers.. which is that naked is going to be a victim of induced current, which means magnetism.. this is the same reason Furutech has special grounding and demag in their connectors. Those competing magnetic fields are a no-no if you are going for rock bottom noise. Which I am in this application. Also... Takman pointed out the bodies can be a point to add vibration countermeasures. I won't say I'm not curious about the Vishay...but... based on what works for me, I am not sure.

What I like about AN so far, is they seem to do a good job bringing the musical information of their inspirations - Black Gate, Shinkoh et al, but with less veil and noise. I am trying to order the Niobium and will report back.