Resistor Sound Quality?

Status
Not open for further replies.
You're welcome to continue using components with magnetic leads - at least, it will leave more supply of the non-magnetic parts to those of us who have actually listened to non-magnetic parts and compared them with the (ferro-)magnetic parts.

I have actually listened to non-magnetic Dales (RLR05, RNC50, older RN55D, etc.) and compared them to magnetic Dales (CMF-55, newer RN55D, etc.). There is a significant reduction in glare with the non-magnetic Dales compared to the magnetic Dales - whether it is due to the steel end-caps, or Nickel barrier-plating or some other completely unrelated materials issue, is a matter of some debate. Until that gets resolved conclusively, I'll stick with the non-magnetic resistors, thank you.
 
I believe many posters when then say they hear a difference in passive parts but those making this claim should add how the sound changed. If it was made better or worse then try to describe what was made better/worse. I'll give credit to former member yldouright here. He provided three major categories of sound definitions that seemed sensible to me in describing these changes and could help us figure out what might be at play. Anyone that has studied field effects should not be surprised that magnetic leads could be audible particularly with small signals. Whether these coupled deflections are audible may be questionable but to argue they don't exist is probably wrong. Not everyone has the wherewithal to see everything that's changing with passive part differences.
 
Last edited:
terrences said:
I'll give credit to former member yldouright here. He provided three major categories of sound definitions that seemed sensible to me in describing these changes and could help us figure out what might be at play.
As I recall it, useful definitions were one thing rather lacking from that thread. Even people who agreed that a particular term was useful could not agree what it meant.
 
I believe many posters when then say they hear a difference in passive parts but those making this claim should add how the sound changed. If it was made better or worse then try to describe what was made better/worse. I'll give credit to former member yldouright here. He provided three major categories of sound definitions that seemed sensible to me in describing these changes and could help us figure out what might be at play. Anyone that has studied field effects should not be surprised that magnetic leads could be audible particularly with small signals. Whether these coupled deflections are audible may be questionable but to argue they don't exist is probably wrong. Not everyone has the wherewithal to see everything that's changing with passive part differences.

This is what measurement is for...
 
DF96 said:
As I recall it, useful definitions were one thing rather lacking from that thread. Even people who agreed that a particular term was useful could not agree what it meant.
Any definition is useless when there is no consensus. That is what he was aiming to address and in my opinion, his definitions were comprehensive and made perfect sense. Any other sonic attribute I can think of falls either completely or in parts under the three he describes. Can you present any others that don't?

marce said:
This is what measurement is for...
I agree when the measurements being compared have the exact same parameters and are performed with the same instruments calibrated to the same standard and in the exact same environments. That is saying a lot and most measurements offered don't stand up to that rigor. Hence the need for our ears. I like trying to hear things I see but looking for things you hear can work too. The method you should use depends upon the accuracy of what is available to you.
 
Last edited:
...
But resistors do not change to rectifiers.

All resistors have at least two junctions, maybe more, where non-ohmic effects exist - these are the lead-attach points and/or end-cap attach points at each end. Most of the contact resistance is ohmic (resistive), but there is bound to be a small amount of metal-oxide present which will cause a weak non-ohmic metal-semiconductor junction in parallel with the resistive contact.

Try this - get hold of a 6.5 digit Agilent multimeter and measure the resistance of a 100k resistor in both directions. There will be a difference of a few ohms even in high-quality resistors. If it's a cheap metal or carbon-film, it could be 10s of ohms. What do you think that difference is due to? Most likely a weak PN junction in parallel with the resistive contact at the end-cap.

Whether that's audible is another debate, but consider that PN junctions have a tendency to generate harmonics, and the odd ones are particularly perceptible even at (say) -80 dBr. It may show up as glare, or hash, or metallicity, or just plain listening fatigue.

Edit: It's perhaps not a huge surprise that the best-sounding resistors tend to have noble-metal barrier plating at lead-attach points, e.g. Silver-Palladium on some high quality SMDs and plate-type resistors.
 
Last edited:
So how come (non audio) sensitive analogue designs don't suffer from this one wonders...
Some proper academic papers on this would be an interesting read....

There are nice cases of where the thermocouple effect screw things up. Will have to try resistor direction on my bridge.

10 ohms on 100K =.001% distortion, not many applications where this would matter or even show up.

In a strain gauge bridge this would show up, but they are DC and trimmed out, so it wouldn't matter. Can't think of any real application where this level would become an issue.
 
The fact that you can measure the noise down to 10's of nV and get the exact theoretical value would rule out rectification at the ends or how about sensitive RF front ends and unwanted IMD?

Actually the cell phone base station guys do look at problems at very very low levels. As the received signal from a cell phone is really low and the transmitter is close things like corrosion on connectors become issues. So if a type of resistor was causing problems they would address the issues.

Since I have never designed or in anyway worked on them can't really comment.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.