Example of capacitor sound comparison.

[TB]

Hello,
I was not sure where should I put this link. I hope it is a right place. Anyway, this forum has a lot of posts with question related to resistors and capacitors type vs. sound impact. I was browsing through Youtube and found interesting information about sound difference of different capacitors. Examples are based on selection of tone capacitor for guitar, but what is interesting are sound samples. Used capacitors are: polypropylene, PIO, mylar, paper in wax.......
Maybe it can solve some dilemmas......
Guitar Tone Capacitors, part 1: Evaluating Material Types - YouTube

 

[TB]

What is very interesting for me are such a small differences among caps. I am surprised but, I think I prefer sound of Orange Drop cap over PIO. It looks like PIO is more towards mid range when Orange Drop is slightly moved towards more detailed high frequencies.

 

[TB]

And one more... this time including ceramic caps:
Guitar Tone Capacitors, part 4: Followup Q&A - YouTube

 

[devilsindetails]

Thanks for sharing this TB...the comparison in this video speaks volumes about the hoodo-voodoo that's been built up by the hucksters, shucksters and flim-flammers about capacitors, resistors, cables, speaker wire and the like

 

[TB]

I have never had time to sit down and listen to music with changed parts. It was always confusing for me how to "convert" scientific data (graphs, measurements...) into sound. And after my failed test to distinguish tube amp from solid state one..... I was even more confused ( the tube amp, if I remember correctly, was huge VTL push-pull intergrated and solid state first series of Bryston 7B monoblocks).
So, even if Youtube video test is not perfect it has more meaning than pure numbers.
And..... ceramic cap does not sound so bad after all.....😀

 

[Michael Bean]

I'm always amused by the "capacitor sound" debate. The deal is, different types of caps can never truely be matched, the ESR and paracitic inductance is rarely even considered, so usually most of these kinds of tests varify that caps are different because they actually are. If anyone could test caps with different dielectrics but identicle cap value, voltage, ESR, etc. (good luck with that!), and then show an audible difference, it would have meaning.

Mike

 

[devilsindetails]

Much like the sound quality vs. measurements debate that's gone on for thousands of posts, types of caps etc., vintage tubes vs. new, tube vs. solid-state, etc. etc. etc. there is no end to the debate...luckily if our positions aren't too entrenched one way or the other we inevitably learn something we didn't know, or perhaps consider, before.
What's instructive to me is discovering that I won't hear significant differences between tres-expensive boutique caps and bargain basement paper wax caps...not enough IMO to justify the enormous price difference.

 

[Michael Bean]

I won't hear significant differences between tres-expensive boutique caps and bargain basement paper wax caps...not enough IMO to justify the enormous price difference.

Bingo!

Mike