[kyrill]

hi

Do these two properties, musicality and transprancy go together?
Some say premium carbon based (Riedon,  riken) other say metal film based

Is there any consensus? The context is SS amps so those R do not have to stand high voltages like in tube amps
are tantalum R that good or is it mainly a matter of taste?

[JoshK]

I know in the context of tube amps they each have their place based on their properties.  Carbon comp supposedly sound good in some applications but their value can change with temperature, wirewound can be inductive, so they work fine for plate load but not for cathode resistor.  In the signal path though (like grid stopper) many report tantulum and carbon comp as sounding good with people in either camp. 

That doesn't directly help as I don't really do much in the SS space, so I don't know a lot, but it may apply there as well.

[KBK]

Tantalum are rare and expensive, but excellent due to ionic flow considerations. next up, are the vishay bulk metal foil types.

After that, it's the standard Vishay-Holco high end metal types.

The high voltage situations (tubes) do tend to sound best with the resistors mentioned.

The new Dale and standard Caddocks are great for emitter situations on the outputs of solid state amps.

Basically, you are trying to avoid 'self noise' in the given resistor substrate, the tantalums do very well in this respect. Tantalum caps work well in this regard, except for self resonance, and non-linear issues---which they suck at. Thus making them quite colored for audio power rail buffering. As a resistor, that's another story.

[tanchiro58]

I have heard the Riken ($4-6 each and no more in production) are very musical in tube amps but the Vishay Bulk resistors ($24 each) have more resolution and transparency with less noise than the Allen Bradleys which are musical and have reasonable prices.

[art]

You can buy tantalum nitride SMD resistors for not much $. Low tempco, and good tolerance, which never seems to hurt. I have stuck them in equipment, when requested. But to be honest, we did not evaluate them relative to regular ol' cheap resistors.

Pat

[kyrill]

Flameproof metal oxide like phillps 2%tol in power supply ,holco for signal path, vishay in most critical area like cartridge load in phono.

Is this cost point of vieuw?

if vishay is good for phono, then it surely must be good enough for audio in the line stages?

I even think that the better sounding caps and resistors normally reserved to be placed in the signal path, are to be placed in the rest of the topology as well for a better sounding total
So also better/best sounding resistors in circuits parallel to the signalpath and in the pws

[Bill Baker]

There are a lot of good quality resistors now for audio applications. Aside from the type, the physical size will make a difference in regards to noise. Whenever possible, use the largest physical size possible. Replacing 1/2 watt resistors in critical areas with 1 watt or better yet 2 watt, will help cut down on noise.
 Choosing the right type for the right application is important.

 Some of the better audio application resistors I use most often are Mills which are best for cathode, grid stops, screen grids and other areas where a non-inductive is required,  Decent wirewounds such as the Dale/Vishay RW or CW series are very good in the signal path (very minimum inductance if the leads are kept very short) as well as the dale/Vishay RN series metal film which have proven to always have very tight tolerences.
 Riken resistors are excellent but since thet stopped production, they are becoming harder to find and more expensive if you do. I usually reserved these for Grid applications.
 If money was not an issue, I would use Audio Note 2 watt Tantalums just about everywhere.

 Wirewounds will be the quietest followed by metal films. Carbon film, carbon comp and tants can sometimes have a little bit of noise associated with them (their quality can sometimes determine this) but well worth it in my opinion.