Preamplifier Input Parallel Resistor (22k) Shootout:
1. TE CFS CF: Good soundstage, neutral mids, punchy basslines, overall detailed & open, superb vocal rendering, smooth highs, totally glare free.
2. Yageo FCR CF: Articulated and lively bass - maybe a tad too much and not the tightest, highs lifted, good soundstage, open but T's & S's pronounced.
2. KOA SPR CF: Hump at bass & upper bass, bass is hard but not lively, dip at the upper mids and highs, lack of brilliance in the highs, human voices sound good, good soundstage & very good stage depth, totally glare free.
2. KOA CF1 CF: Same as SPR CF
2. TT/IRC IBT CC: Recessed highs, clear mids & full lower mids, bass is there, good soundstage, vocals good, colored but smooth overall, totally glare free.
2. Dale CMF MF: Airy, clear, mids recessed, bass is good, soundstage good but lower and not so deep as others, mids & highs good but thinned out due to the dip in the mids, mids not that textured and rather cold.
2. Takman REX CC: Bloated upper mids & upper bass, deep bass is muddy, smooth creamy mids, balanced highs, good with human voices, not the most detailed.
3. Allen-Bradley CC: Highs & upper mids clearly recessed, poor detail, smooth, creamy mids & nice body (lower mids), slow, human voices good, overall dark but charming, totally glare free.
3. Holco UK MF: Recessed upper mids & highs, mids good, bass woody and detached, uneven and dark only the mids are OK.
4. Welwyn RC55 MF: Unbearable highs & upper mids, detailed, recessed stage depth, edgy, uninvolving, haze around instruments.
4. Ohmite OF CC: Recessed bass, nervous mids, overall thin and colored.
5. Kamaya RC CC: Frequency extremes clearly recessed, undynamic, flat & slightly nasal.
Notes:
CC: Carbon Composition
CF: Carbon Film
MF: Metal Film
TE CFS are made by TE Connectivity/Holsworthy.
KOA Speer SPR Carbon Film series is also known as Kiwame, production ended 2018.
The Ohmite OF and OD Carbon Composition series is also known as Little Demon.
The Allen-Bradleys are of course NOS.
The Holcos (UK) are also NOS and non-magnetic, the new ones are made in the US and instead gold plated copper end caps they have magnetic nickel end caps (magnetic) and they sound totally awful, thin, very edgy upper mids & highs.
All resistors were 1W. 0,5W was used in case of non-existing 1W parts.
Resistor pairs were matched, max. tolerance 0,25%. Allen-Bradley tolerance was 1,5%.
Max. tolerance of pairs in comparison was under 1%. With Allen-Bradley the max. tolerance was 2,5%.
An US military Greyhill switch was used with Kimber TC cable.
All resistors were burned-in (>50h) after soldered on the switch so that the solder joints were also burned-in.
Eutectic solder was used: Kester 63/37.
Resistors in the first & second places were extensively tested for several weeks.
Without burning-in the TE resistors sounded harsh, thinned out with too much highs and rather cold mids. They changed dramatically after 50-100h.
I tried to listen to the faults and not what I like best to be as objective as possible to give you at least an idea about the obvious shortcomings. I soldered another new preamp PCB (same circuit) with TE resistors only and it sounds very very good. But still you should consider to combine resistors to avoid a special sound or just to your liking. I.E.: I tried Allen-Bradleys on the output and with older recordings (50's-60's) the vocals were very sexy and creamy.
Music:
50's & 60's Tube recordings: Nancy Wilson, Frank Sinatra HD, Art Blakey.
70's & 80's Analogue recordings: Genesis, Rimsky-Korsakov, John McLaughlin, Azymuth, Love and Money, Pat Metheny Group Live DSD HD, Journey, Steely Dan, Jeff Lorber, Al Stewart, Larry Carlton, Ann Peacock, Santana.
80's Digital recordings: Donald Fagen HD, Ster Trek OST (Jerry Goldsmith), Chicago HD, Spyro Gyra, Chopin, Chaka Khan.
90's and on: Medieval music by Savall HD, George Duke, Incognito, Bach, Fourplay HD, Bantock, Lindsey Buckingham, Steve Hackett Live, Vivaldi (original instruments).
Audiophile: Sara K DSD HD, Chuck Loeb.
CD's were, cryoed, outer edge painted with green laquer pen, de-magnetized and ripped with the Optiarc AD-7260S (digital step motor version) with 4x speed. Dynamically compressed remastering's were not used in this shootout. CD's were either original pressings or SHM-CD's, BluSpec's and US/Italian/UK/Japan remasterings.
The DSD HD files were played directly with bitstream (without PCM conversion).
Equipment:
Notebook (accu powered).
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64bit.
Software: J River Media Player 32bit 358kHz ASIO output with SoX resampling & TPDF dithering. DSD files with DSD bitstream.
USB cable: DIY Sommer Cable.
DAC: Modded Sanskrit Pro B with DIY super regulator PSU and mains filter.
Preamp: Pure silver double solid-core hardwired on PCB DIY opamp preamp with gain (OPA1656) and buffer stage (OPA1656 or OPA1612) with the volume pot (TKD) in between. Power rails were hardwired with Kimber TC cable.
Poweramps: Accuphase P-300. Sansui AU-517 (modded). Modded TPA3255 with modded Meanwell PSU.
Speakers: Philips 9710 fullrange. Triangle Titus 2-way. Triangle speaker stands. The Markaudio Alpair 10.3 was kicked out of the shootout cos too much colorations and metallic human voices plus soundstage too small - localization of instruments was difficult.
Headphones: Diverse Philips, Sennheiser HD-580 modded, Stax Gamma Pro.
Headphone amps: DIY MOSFET amp & DIY opamp amp with OPA2209 and LME49600.
ViaBlue interconnect & speaker cables. ViaBlue & Supra mains cables.
Eichmann & Neutrik RCA plugs.
Isolating transformer & separate DIY mains filter for analogue and digital.
Target Audio equipment tables.
1. TE CFS CF: Good soundstage, neutral mids, punchy basslines, overall detailed & open, superb vocal rendering, smooth highs, totally glare free.
2. Yageo FCR CF: Articulated and lively bass - maybe a tad too much and not the tightest, highs lifted, good soundstage, open but T's & S's pronounced.
2. KOA SPR CF: Hump at bass & upper bass, bass is hard but not lively, dip at the upper mids and highs, lack of brilliance in the highs, human voices sound good, good soundstage & very good stage depth, totally glare free.
2. KOA CF1 CF: Same as SPR CF
2. TT/IRC IBT CC: Recessed highs, clear mids & full lower mids, bass is there, good soundstage, vocals good, colored but smooth overall, totally glare free.
2. Dale CMF MF: Airy, clear, mids recessed, bass is good, soundstage good but lower and not so deep as others, mids & highs good but thinned out due to the dip in the mids, mids not that textured and rather cold.
2. Takman REX CC: Bloated upper mids & upper bass, deep bass is muddy, smooth creamy mids, balanced highs, good with human voices, not the most detailed.
3. Allen-Bradley CC: Highs & upper mids clearly recessed, poor detail, smooth, creamy mids & nice body (lower mids), slow, human voices good, overall dark but charming, totally glare free.
3. Holco UK MF: Recessed upper mids & highs, mids good, bass woody and detached, uneven and dark only the mids are OK.
4. Welwyn RC55 MF: Unbearable highs & upper mids, detailed, recessed stage depth, edgy, uninvolving, haze around instruments.
4. Ohmite OF CC: Recessed bass, nervous mids, overall thin and colored.
5. Kamaya RC CC: Frequency extremes clearly recessed, undynamic, flat & slightly nasal.
Notes:
CC: Carbon Composition
CF: Carbon Film
MF: Metal Film
TE CFS are made by TE Connectivity/Holsworthy.
KOA Speer SPR Carbon Film series is also known as Kiwame, production ended 2018.
The Ohmite OF and OD Carbon Composition series is also known as Little Demon.
The Allen-Bradleys are of course NOS.
The Holcos (UK) are also NOS and non-magnetic, the new ones are made in the US and instead gold plated copper end caps they have magnetic nickel end caps (magnetic) and they sound totally awful, thin, very edgy upper mids & highs.
All resistors were 1W. 0,5W was used in case of non-existing 1W parts.
Resistor pairs were matched, max. tolerance 0,25%. Allen-Bradley tolerance was 1,5%.
Max. tolerance of pairs in comparison was under 1%. With Allen-Bradley the max. tolerance was 2,5%.
An US military Greyhill switch was used with Kimber TC cable.
All resistors were burned-in (>50h) after soldered on the switch so that the solder joints were also burned-in.
Eutectic solder was used: Kester 63/37.
Resistors in the first & second places were extensively tested for several weeks.
Without burning-in the TE resistors sounded harsh, thinned out with too much highs and rather cold mids. They changed dramatically after 50-100h.
I tried to listen to the faults and not what I like best to be as objective as possible to give you at least an idea about the obvious shortcomings. I soldered another new preamp PCB (same circuit) with TE resistors only and it sounds very very good. But still you should consider to combine resistors to avoid a special sound or just to your liking. I.E.: I tried Allen-Bradleys on the output and with older recordings (50's-60's) the vocals were very sexy and creamy.
Music:
50's & 60's Tube recordings: Nancy Wilson, Frank Sinatra HD, Art Blakey.
70's & 80's Analogue recordings: Genesis, Rimsky-Korsakov, John McLaughlin, Azymuth, Love and Money, Pat Metheny Group Live DSD HD, Journey, Steely Dan, Jeff Lorber, Al Stewart, Larry Carlton, Ann Peacock, Santana.
80's Digital recordings: Donald Fagen HD, Ster Trek OST (Jerry Goldsmith), Chicago HD, Spyro Gyra, Chopin, Chaka Khan.
90's and on: Medieval music by Savall HD, George Duke, Incognito, Bach, Fourplay HD, Bantock, Lindsey Buckingham, Steve Hackett Live, Vivaldi (original instruments).
Audiophile: Sara K DSD HD, Chuck Loeb.
CD's were, cryoed, outer edge painted with green laquer pen, de-magnetized and ripped with the Optiarc AD-7260S (digital step motor version) with 4x speed. Dynamically compressed remastering's were not used in this shootout. CD's were either original pressings or SHM-CD's, BluSpec's and US/Italian/UK/Japan remasterings.
The DSD HD files were played directly with bitstream (without PCM conversion).
Equipment:
Notebook (accu powered).
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64bit.
Software: J River Media Player 32bit 358kHz ASIO output with SoX resampling & TPDF dithering. DSD files with DSD bitstream.
USB cable: DIY Sommer Cable.
DAC: Modded Sanskrit Pro B with DIY super regulator PSU and mains filter.
Preamp: Pure silver double solid-core hardwired on PCB DIY opamp preamp with gain (OPA1656) and buffer stage (OPA1656 or OPA1612) with the volume pot (TKD) in between. Power rails were hardwired with Kimber TC cable.
Poweramps: Accuphase P-300. Sansui AU-517 (modded). Modded TPA3255 with modded Meanwell PSU.
Speakers: Philips 9710 fullrange. Triangle Titus 2-way. Triangle speaker stands. The Markaudio Alpair 10.3 was kicked out of the shootout cos too much colorations and metallic human voices plus soundstage too small - localization of instruments was difficult.
Headphones: Diverse Philips, Sennheiser HD-580 modded, Stax Gamma Pro.
Headphone amps: DIY MOSFET amp & DIY opamp amp with OPA2209 and LME49600.
ViaBlue interconnect & speaker cables. ViaBlue & Supra mains cables.
Eichmann & Neutrik RCA plugs.
Isolating transformer & separate DIY mains filter for analogue and digital.
Target Audio equipment tables.
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I have recently thought about that concept why all resistors are so different....
And i think its the very tiny voltage difference between resistor terminals... it occurs at various frequency s with different ambient temperatures, its like Glitch lol.
So called petlier effect, where between two ends of different material, there will be always a difference in potentials... and it depends on material, contact quality and temperature, maybe some electrical fields, coupling whatever, but its there.
EDIT in audio, voltage difference is very "hear-able", especially in sensitive circuits. A tiny "glitch" can change circuit behaviour in some point of the time, micro acoustics.
And i think its the very tiny voltage difference between resistor terminals... it occurs at various frequency s with different ambient temperatures, its like Glitch lol.
So called petlier effect, where between two ends of different material, there will be always a difference in potentials... and it depends on material, contact quality and temperature, maybe some electrical fields, coupling whatever, but its there.
EDIT in audio, voltage difference is very "hear-able", especially in sensitive circuits. A tiny "glitch" can change circuit behaviour in some point of the time, micro acoustics.
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I suggest you try Vishay Bulk foil or latest equivelant. If you think that your selection are good then Vishay bulk foils will show up the weaknesses in your system. Non Inductive or microfonic.Two of its many virtues. Cost is not one. Solves most of the problems of resistor sound. I have only spent 60 years plus on experimenting with resistor sound.So Ive Spent quite a few years on the subject.
No need to use a hammer. Your fingernails are enough. Try it on a phono interconnect, on a tantalum capacitor, or on a .... hm... on a resistor. It will work in a circuit of mV sensitivity, like a phono preamplifier. But sometimes you will be surprised if you knock on components of a PSU, especially capacitors.
Tests are still running, til now it's over 6 weeks now.
3 Persons are involved. Double blind tests and normal tests were used. One person done the switching the 2 others the listening with change. 4 resistors were soldered and tested and so on.
At one point (not a blind test) when I had the job of switching I made a mistake and switched to the Yageo instead of the IRC the person who was listening identified the Yageo in seconds because of the highs!
We made also blind random duels like Allen-Bradley vs Dale and so on but it was boring cos one can hear the difference in 2 secs.
BTW, Jan would you suggest a linear PSU for the TPA3255? I made a test once and heard that the linear PSU was slow in comparison to a SMPS. I'm asking cos you made this linear PSU for the Behringer.
I will not test the Vishay Bulk Foils cos I simply don't like them. I have a bag full of it. IMO they sound very clean and clear but totally unmusical as if they rob the soul out of the music and extremely boring. I'm listening to music and not test tones, I need flesh, blood & sweat. Morale of the story for me is that Herb Reichert was right, without carbon resistors and PIO caps there is no life in the music. I use 2 Jensen PIO's in my TPA3255 and they do the magic of deepening the soundstage clearing the haze and make the rhythm swing.
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