What "cheap" caps for my dac?

[wazzup]

Hi,

I`m now building a dac, from a kit. Its a MP dac, from Hawk audio.
I Also just bought a set of Philips Hf-309 tube amplifiers, which suited my budget great. Now I want to complete my dac, but I ain`t gonne do it with black gates, I`m too ignororant/unknowing where to put them in the circuit, so using ALL black gates would cost me too much... I might put some in the power supply...

SO why not use good caps, which are a bit cheaper.

I`m from The netherlands so it would be nice to order them here, as I can do that via my work.

So The dac consists of a power supply -ofcourse- and err other pcb`s. What to use in the dac...

On my "check these out" list are,

Panasonic
Rubycon -seem unavalible in the netherlands?
Nichicon

And ofcourse I haven`t got a clue to which TYPES I should get from a brand...

Hopfully u can help.

Rikkert

[mrfeedback]

Ihave used these Hitano EXR capacitors extensively and with sonically very nice results, and they are cheap - slightly dearer than standard 105* types.

Eric.

[jean-paul]

They have to be cheap and good ?? Then use BCcomponents series 037 or better 038 when you can find them. Excellent industrial long life types that also sound good. Hitano probably is good but I never have seen a single one in the Netherlands unfortunately. Chris from www.bergsoft.nl might be of help when you want the BCcomponents caps. Please realise this is a company for companies ( forgot the english word ) so don't order 2 caps and expect them to be sent to you. Better order a larger quantity as prices are reasonable. The guy understands we need good parts and is one of the few that still sells to private persons despite the sometimes troublesome audio-demands of certain people...

Panasonic FC is very good but can only be ordered from Farnell and the like when you have a company ( or a friend with a company ). You have to order at least 5 pieces per value !
Conrad ( www.conrad.nl ) has some nice parts too, their Sedlbauer toroids are famous. They also carry nice film caps but study what they have as they have crap parts too. They sell Epcos electrolytics which are generally hard to find.

Buying caps from electronic dumpstores can be nice but risky ( don't be surprised that you find 2002 Nichicon and 1968 Roedersteins in your bag when you get home ). Always check datecodes, unfortunately manufacturers like to use cryptic datecodes which can be difficult to translate.

Quakkelstein in Vlaardingen is probably the last of the Mohicans in the Netherlands. Beware, he only opens up at certain days so call him *before* you plan to visit the shop. Has a decent amount of electrolytic caps of all varities and brands *and* dates. Make up your mind before you go otherwise there is a risk for returning home with a cartload of wonderful parts you weren't looking for

If you need Pana FC 220 uF 25V / Elna 1000/2200 uF 16 V I can be of help as I have many of them.

A last possibility is to order from special audio-companies and pay double the price. A last resort for the desperate souls.

[wazzup]

Tnx a lot for the info all, I will certainly look into the suggested caps and stores!

[wazzup]

So I found a few Panasonic FC caps, I found 3 I can use 10uF 1000uF, and 2200 uF, I will do a search on other brands, to see if they have 4700uF 15000uF, 100uF, and 47 uF. Luckily I can order at Farnell, cos my work also orders there.

Now I have to look into some resistors, I was thinking of buying nice ones, but hell those are in the same leauqe as BG`s, expensive that is. Do I need 0.1% ones, or could I use lesser ones? Rikken and kiwame are price technical not really an option now, I wanne put it together, and buy really good ones later.

Can u recomend me maybe a other brand, which sounds good, for a nice price?


btw: All the caps I need are at least 25 volts, so thanks for the offer Jean-paul, but I can`t use them -yet-.

[jean-paul]

Riken and Kiwame are price technical not a real option now, I want to put it together and buy real good ones later.

That's called costcutting the wrong way in my book. Why spend money twice *and* having a risk of failure/ peeled off tracks of your pcb etc. ?? Forget the "later" thingie, it is wiser to do it right from the start

Whatever, I can recommend Beyschlag MRS25 E-96 resistors. They're 1 % and sound just fine. The BCComponents E-96 series is good too.

[guido]

You can order at Farnell as 'particulier'. No problem, there is only a minimum ammount 'orderbedrag'. Can't remember of the top of my head what it is.

GuidoB

[wazzup]

Jean-paul,

I need like almost 50 resistors, and a lot of caps, Using all rikken or something would cost me A LOT Nevertheless, u have a point about spending the money twice, I might just use rikken, in the output stage.

Tnx for the advise, guidio. saves me the trouble off filling in a zillion forms on work...

[00940]

did you ask at www.diyparadiso.com ? they probably have some decent caps in your ranges

schuro.de also has the pana fc

[Bricolo]

I'm with you, wazzup


I also need some good but not too expensive caps and resistors.
FCs are told to be nice. I use them in my gainclone and I'm satisfied with them. But are they OK for signal lines, or only for power supply filtering?

For the resistors, I don't know.

And I'm also looking for inexpensive film caps. I used to buy wimas, but for 3€ each. When it was for an input cap, I needed only two, that was no big expense. But for my TDA1541A DAC I'll need 14 of them...