I have used these in several designs and am not really sold on them. I prefer the old Holco H2/H4 resistors despite the reliability issues for their "sound." They are still available in limited quantities from Michael Percy as well as several good sounding subs, I think there are other currently available "boutique" metal films that perform as well and cost less. Note that a lot of currently available mf resistors are made by subsidiaries of Vishay, but they aren't all the same by any means.
My major issue with some generic mf types is that the dissimilar metals in the resistor end terminations can sometimes introduce measurable non-linearities. Some years ago I got a batch of "bad" mepco electra 15K mf resistors (rn60) that generated 0.15% thd all on their own, and this with all of 1Vrms across it. I discovered this after trying to figure out why a new pre-amp design sounded bad, it had several of these in the signal path - replacing them with another brand solved the problem.
My major issue with some generic mf types is that the dissimilar metals in the resistor end terminations can sometimes introduce measurable non-linearities. Some years ago I got a batch of "bad" mepco electra 15K mf resistors (rn60) that generated 0.15% thd all on their own, and this with all of 1Vrms across it. I discovered this after trying to figure out why a new pre-amp design sounded bad, it had several of these in the signal path - replacing them with another brand solved the problem.
kevinkr said:
I really like Holco resistors too. I've used the small H8 wattage ones post-DAC in a CD player and they sounded more open and lush than stock, Vishay/Dale, and Caddock bulk film. The only thing better was the Vishay bulk films which are about $14 EACH (for the .6 watt size)! Holco's are a tremendous bargain for what they do compared to boutique capacitors. BTW, they are not artificially lush, just musical. The expensive resistors were more neutral and transparent. They also showed Holco to have a hint of darkness, which I far prefer to edginess. Its the same conclusion Hifi News and Record Review reached many (10?) years ago in a resistor comparison article.
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