Top resistors

IME Riken carbon-film resistors obscure detail relative to Caddock MK132(warm but resolving) and nude TX2575(even more resolving, but without etch or coldness.) Nude TX2352 is identical to nude Vishay S102. The higher-spec nude TX2575 has no Vishay-brand equivalent.

With various mods & most recently TX2575, I'm trying to decide if transparency, clarity, and resolution are the ultimate goals of the sport & can be pursued in absolute terms without compromising other aspects of sound. With TX2575 the answer seems to be yes.

After the latest round of changes, I borrowed some nice NOS tubes, in order to compare the impact of resistor subs and other mods to tube rolling. Tubes included RCA 6SN7GT grey glass, Sylvania 6SN7WGT 1951, Raytheon 6SN7GT, and Russian 6SN7/1578/6N8S. My anecdotal conclusion is that in a well-designed component, no amount of tube rolling(at least 6SN7 rolling) definitively improves sound like TX2575. Moreover, assuming availability of high-quality tubes that don't blur detail, the shifts occuring with tube rolling are quite different in character(more subjective)than the across-board-improvement associated with rolling a high quality resistor. (My baseline for tube evaluation is current-production $12 6SN7EH, which gets surprisingly close to the best of the above NOS.) Some tubes (Sylvania & RCA) add obvious affectations and discontinuities, that while possibly compensating for shortcomings in some components, probably don't belong in neutral & transparent gear.

Mr D- The tubes that you auditioned(all but the Russian, which I never tried), all brought artificial warmth to my system when used as phase splitters or drivers in my Cary monoblocks. Trust me when I say that if you had tried a NOS pair of TungSol JAN CTL/6SN7GT round plates(40's), or Sylvania JAN CHS/6SN7W, tall bottles- your idea that tube rolling won't provide an across-the-board improvement like a resistor change is flawed. The improvements in transparency, sound stage(width and depth), dynamics, focus, frequency extension(both directions, without glare or bloat) and imaging that these tubes provide when compared to other 6SN7's is amazing(not quite as dramatic when compared to the Sylvania and Ken-Rad bottom gettered VT-231's, which are also excellent). They further allow the proper harmonic "bloom" that accompanies live instruments(without any excess) and accurate transient attack and decay. I can't live without them! Of course the resistor change provides improvements in transparency regardless of the tubes installed(so we're comparing apples and oranges here), and whether one likes an accurate, transparent presentation of what's on their recorded material or prefers the kinds of colorations some enjoy makes any comparison "subjective". Personally- I want my system to provide the qualities that I hear when I'm working as a sound technician, attending a live concert, or playing my guitar. Hearing live music 2 or 3 times a week for the past couple decades has given me a pretty good idea of what the real thing sounds like, and I can't abide noise/warmth/sibilance/sugary glaze or anything else that doesn't exist at a properly set up live venue. That there are others that want their systems to sound that way doesn't surprise me at all, or affect my tastes in the least. Enjoy your music, and the quest!

Mr. R: Thanks, I will have to try more NOS. Of the lot that I tried, I rank Russian 6N8S tops, followed closely by Raytheon GT, followed by EH. All three have top-to-bottom continuousness, good bass authority, big dynamic envelop, spaciousness, and detailed & refined treble. These NOS slightly surpass EH in nuance of pitch & timbre, increased palp factor & realism-- but not by much. Also, at $12 a pop for EH one can enjoy more frequent retubings--allowing enjoyment of tubes in the prime of their lifespan. A related point for consideration is where to obtain the most cost-effective improvement. So far, I'm inclined to to posit that a few hundred dollars in premium R is the better spend. At cost-no-object of course one wants it all.

hmmm sound good ,i'm interest to try that TX2575 ,anyone can inform me where's to buy ,and also anyone have the opinion about tantalum resistor ?,such shinkoh or audionote resistor

thanks

Mr. Y: You can order direct from manufacturer Texas Components or perhaps from Michael Percy (though I do not see them in his catalog.) I do not know about Audionote tantalum, except that someone I know with a good system said they were bass heavy & dark in his preamp.