My Capacitor comparisons: Mundorfs, VCap, Sonicap Platinum, Auricap, etc

kris_oslo · « **Reply #400 on:** 24 Aug 2009, 02:50 pm »

I just bypassed my 1.0uf Jupiter's with ERO KP1832 0,01uf... I agree, it really is a good combination. Even when used as coupling cap in a DAC. Usually I think bypassing makes things sound less right.

Excellent tip anyways...

K

earplay · « **Reply #401 on:** 31 Aug 2009, 01:56 am »

The only stupid questions are those that are not asked, so this is *not* a stupid question. How do the voltage ratings of caps affect their application?

For instance, can a .47uf, 1200v cap be used in place of a .47uf, 600v cap?

JoshK · « **Reply #402 on:** 31 Aug 2009, 01:59 am »

In short, yes. 1200v caps can be used in lieu of 600v caps, but not necessarily the other way around. The problem is, higher voltage caps are usually much more expensive and often much larger. That is basically the rub.

earplay · « **Reply #403 on:** 31 Aug 2009, 02:16 am »

Well, that's the thing with Mundorf SIO caps. They come only as 1200v.

Your reply was a big help. In other words, the higher v-rated caps can handle safely more power than the lower v-rated caps. Kind of like bigger brakes can be put on a car safely, as long as they fit, but smaller brakes could get you into trouble?

earplay · « **Reply #404 on:** 31 Aug 2009, 03:33 am »

Has anyone heard the Cardas caps? I wonder how they would compare.

KT · « **Reply #405 on:** 2 Sep 2009, 05:44 pm »

Quote from: Jon L on 15 Aug 2009, 02:02 am

Russian K75-10 Hybrid Paper and Polyethylene Terephthalate In Oil Capacitor

This Russian military capacitor is quite intriguing in its reported construction and in appearance that resembles a small grenade...

The sound is rather addicting in its presentation and can even be called delicious in what it does well, kind of reminiscent of biting into a ripe peach...

It's not often that you see "ripe peach" and "grenade" used in the same stream of thought.

This cap sounds intriguing; unique and colorful. I am shortly going to build a Pass Labs DIY B1 buffer, and this cap sounds like just the thing I'm looking for as the 1.0uF input cap.

The B1 is supposed to be transparent and very neutral. My sonic tastes run towards the more colorful (and maybe colored; big tube fan), and this might be the thing to add some character to the sound. I'm also considering the AmpOhm copper, and the Vit Q (which I have stocked), but this one sounds fun and delicious.

Has anyone built the Pass B1 buffer and experimented with their cap selection? I'm thinking about using a Blackgate N as the 10uF output cap, but wonder if the combo might be to warm and fuzzy.

BTW, have you ever heard of Audio1 caps? They're constructed a lot like the old Vit Q's and Westcaps, metal body with sealed ends. I had some in a Cary preamp that I own, but took them out. They sounded dark, veiled, slow, and muddy.

A sweep of opinions on the web at the time I purchased the Cary (used and burned in) showed that a lot of folks thought the same. I took the Audio1's out and settled on what I'm using currently - VTV Ultratones followed by Dynamicaps.

The 2uF Audio1 is big, about 4 inches long and almost 1 inch in diameter. The .1uF is smaller, but fairly sizable for that value. Was wondering if anyone had experience with these.

Best,
KT

face · « **Reply #406 on:** 2 Sep 2009, 06:05 pm »

I've tried Dayton, Jantzen Standard Z, Sonic Caps, Claritycap MR, and Duelund aluminum VSF in a B1 buffer. I thought the Standard Z's were terrible, with the Daytons not much better. Sonic caps were ok, but the MR's and VSF's were MUCH better in comparison...as they should be. Now that I've changed a few things around in my setup I need a little more warmth, so I will probably try out Claritycap ESA's as I'm really fond of them in my Jolida JD-9 and in loudspeakers.

avahifi · « **Reply #407 on:** 2 Sep 2009, 06:31 pm »

One other "rub" in using high voltage capacitors at much less than their rated voltage.

In general they will then not operate at their rated capacitance if the voltage is too low. It will be some randomly lower value of capacitance and thus be sure of changing the sound of your circuit design, but not in a wonderful way.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

poseidonsvoice · « **Reply #408 on:** 2 Sep 2009, 06:58 pm »

Quote from: avahifi on 2 Sep 2009, 06:31 pm

One other "rub" in using high voltage capacitors at much less than their rated voltage.

In general they will then not operate at their rated capacitance if the voltage is too low. It will be some randomly lower value of capacitance and thus be sure of changing the sound of your circuit design, but not in a wonderful way.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

Frank,

Can you define 'much less' ? Most speaker designs use higher voltage caps, usually 100V or more so does it affect them as well? Does a 1200VDC/800VAC Mundorf capacitor that states 1uf measure considerably different if only 400V DC (let's say in a preamp) is running through it?

Do you know of any references, or is this from your personal experience?

Anand.

earplay · « **Reply #409 on:** 2 Sep 2009, 09:02 pm »

Quote from: avahifi on 2 Sep 2009, 06:31 pm

One other "rub" in using high voltage capacitors at much less than their rated voltage.

In general they will then not operate at their rated capacitance if the voltage is too low. It will be some randomly lower value of capacitance and thus be sure of changing the sound of your circuit design, but not in a wonderful way.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

Thanks, Frank, duly noted. It even makes sense to me.

AudioCap · « **Reply #410 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 08:10 am »

Quote from: avahifi on 2 Sep 2009, 06:31 pm

One other "rub" in using high voltage capacitors at much less than their rated voltage.

In general they will then not operate at their rated capacitance if the voltage is too low. It will be some randomly lower value of capacitance and thus be sure of changing the sound of your circuit design, but not in a wonderful way.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

Although there are some specific issues with using over-rated (regarding voltage not quality!) electrolytic capacitors, I find it difficult to to agree with the above for film capacitors. For example, a high quality capacitance meter will measure the capacitance at a comparatively low voltage and give quite an accurate measurement of capacitance, and not a randomly lower value. Or maybe I'm missing something here....

avahifi · « **Reply #411 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 02:08 pm »

Correct, the issue is mostly with electrolytic capacitors. Hope I did not scare anyone.

Frank Van Alstine

AudioCap · « **Reply #412 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 02:12 pm »

Quote from: avahifi on 3 Sep 2009, 02:08 pm

Correct, the issue is mostly with electrolytic capacitors. Hope I did not scare anyone.

Frank Van Alstine

Only a bit

jrebman · « **Reply #413 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 03:16 pm »

KT and Faith,

Thanks for the comments on caps as used in the B1. I'm just waiting for the latest boards to come in and then I will be building my B1 too. Not sure twhat it will be feeding yet, so I have no idea what types of caps I will use, but my sonic tastes sound very much in line with KT's. Maybe the ampohm tin foils on the input and BG N or NX on the outs, or possibly Axon or Wimas -- again, depending on what amps I'll be using after them, which is still very much up in the air until I get to listen to the new speakers.

Thanks,

Jim

KT · « **Reply #414 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 09:02 pm »

Face,

Good tip on the Janzen Standard Z in the B1 circuit.

I was initially thinking of trying the Janzen or Dynamicap as an affordable cap to start with in the B1 as I've had good success with them in some other amps I have.

I'm wondering in what way the Janzen Standard Z sounded poorly in your setup. Was it too dry and clinical? Dynamicaps, which apparently have a similar character to the Janzen, balanced out very well in my Cary preamp, but that's a tubed unit, so perhaps the virtues of tubes and Dynamicaps compliment each other. Maybe not enough breath, air, and life in the B1 via the Janzens? Curious to hear more observations.

Jim, please let keep us informed of how your cap choices work out in the B1. I've tried both the BG N and same value BG Nx on the output of a NOS DAC and recall that I preferred the N over the Nx. It's been so long now, however, that I can't really expound on it more than that... maybe that the N was somewhat more organic and less mechanical sounding than the Nx.

Best,
KT

P.S. - I just re-read Jon's observations on the Vit-Qs and think I'll try those in the B1 first. Although they didn't sing in my 300B amp, Jon's observations that they are better suited to neutral sounding circuits makes me think they might work well in the B1 buffer. I'm willing to give them another try. Still very intrigued by the K75-10, though. I noticed that these Russian caps come in 10uF as well as the lower values. Would 1.0uF input and 10uF output of K75-10 be too much flavor in one circuit?

face · « **Reply #415 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 09:15 pm »

I found them very rolled off on the top and bottom end. It didn't do too favorable in the middle either.

KT · « **Reply #416 on:** 3 Sep 2009, 09:52 pm »

Interesting. Did you have similar results with the Janzen Standard Z in other circuits, or just B1?

Also, were they as input caps, or both input and output?

Thanks for sharing your observations.

Best,
KT

face · « **Reply #417 on:** 4 Sep 2009, 02:30 pm »

No, I haven't used them in any other application yet. And yes, they were used on input and output.

rha61 · « **Reply #418 on:** 8 Sep 2009, 05:38 pm »

another very good russian cap : the affordable K73-16 ( mylar dielectric )
i've tried the 4.7uF/63V and it's actually my favorite cap , both as by pass or in signal path

in my modded Yamaha CX1000 preamp , bypassed with 0.1uF K73-16 or FT-2 , it s simply amazing

KT · « **Reply #419 on:** 10 Sep 2009, 05:37 am »

Quote from: Quiet Earth on 20 Mar 2009, 03:43 am

The Audio Note capacitors take a long, long time to come into their own. This is certainly true of the silver/mylar caps. I guess it is now equally true of the new copper/mylar caps with the white lettering.

I can understand why someone might give up on them after a month or two of heavy use. Good things will come to those who can wait it out.

I got an itch to change things up and plugged in my Sun SV-300BE back into the system, and even removed the VTV Ultratones that lived in it and replaced them with the Audio Note copper foil copper-cased PIOs.

I didn't like these when I used them previously, but thought I'd give them a second chance. Well, after some more run-in, I change my mind.

Previously, I felt they sounded too stiff and tight and didn't breathe as some other PIO's do. I can now say they do sound good, but in a different way.

They have a dense, weighty sound and are tighter and more controlled than the VTVs or the Jensen coppers. Where the VTVs and Jensens are warm, lucid, ethereal, and lush, the AN coppers are taut, controlled, and bouncy, with a dose of PIO warmth and smoothness none-the-less. Acoustic instruments are presented with good body and weight. There's a sense of bounce in the bass lines which isn't a characteristic the other two caps. It may be my amp (5k output transformers with 300Bs) but the AN's don't seem to be as airy as the others. They sure are dense and punchy in the mids and bass, though.

Different flavors of oilers. All are musical but sure different.

Guess it does pay to run some caps in for a long time. Though the ANs are starting to sound good, they are still not as open and airy as I prefer. I know, though, that even with the listening I've done recently it still represents a fairly conservative run time. I'm crossing my fingers they'll open up further with more use.

As Quiet Earth mentioned, the current AN coppers are Mylar-in-Oil, with the PIOs out of production. Apparently the paper used as of 3 or 4 years ago may have contributed to some reliability problems, so AN switched to mylar. According to the AN website, these MIOs take even longer to burn in.

Best,
KT