AN Niobium versus Tantalum resistors?

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.

 

 

 

 

 

agisthos- What I’ve learned so far is see if you can learn what kind you already have, and if you don’t want to deviate from their signature (dynamics, 3d stage, etc) then find a superior brand of the same design. If you want to experiment with the total presentation, then explore the other kind.

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.

not trying something on the basis of what you read in a paper published by a competitor, is rather unsound practice IMHO. Until you have heard a naked Vishay z foil replace another resistor in the direct signal path you can not begin to comprehend what they can do.

As I stated before, they are not a panacea, and must be used judiciously as their utter transparency can prove too ruthless and become overtly clinical when used exclusively.

In my Khozmo passive, the shunt resistors are the Takman REY metal film resistors and the single fixed series resistor in each channel is the Vishay z foil naked resistor.  As described by PW,

"their utter transparency can prove too ruthless and become overtly clinical" 

This becomes a personal choice but they are revealing for sure.

Regarding the Amtrans AMRG resistors in my Hattor BIG preamp, I believe they offer a couple of levels of resistors - mine are the black carbon film resistors.  All I can say is that they sound very nice with a good balance of detail and musicality.  The big Audio Note Silver Tantalum non-magnetic 2W resistors I used to replace the Shallco VC in my buffer also sound very good and seem to be well-balanced.

My favorite combination is using the z-foils in series positions and the AN silver tantalums in shunt positions. The higher wattage silver tants sound a bit richer but don't fit everywhere. 

I haven't tried the Niobiums.