Best PS capacitor

RFENG · 16th January 2008, 03:35 AM

Hi,

I looked but could not find any place where people have discussed PS capacitors. Can people share which are the best capacitors for power supply filter. Brand, what are important parameters. I have found information on and off in discussions but not solely for PS caps. Given that these are so important for nice sound, if possible please share your views and opinions. It will help me greatly and might help others like me as well.

There are so many to choose from with great variation in prices. It is very confusing. What can be a good compromise... stuff like these.

If there is already a thread on this issue please let me know and I will remove this one.

Thanks

jrockhead · 16th January 2008, 10:03 PM

Greetings, for my money I like Cornell Dubilier computer grade caps from Digikey. Super high quality, low esr, screw terminals, hi ripple current etc.

Not cheap but you do get what you pay for and Digikey parts are fresh, not sitting on the shelf for years like the capacitor guy on ebay.

HTH, Marcus

paulebappie · 18th January 2008, 09:05 AM

I upgraded all the caps in my DAC PSU with Panasonic FC and noticed a degadation in sound when i replaced the cap's directly after the regulator (7XXX types).

A bit of googling gave me this document:

http://www.national.com/an/AN/AN-1148.pdf

Where they explain that a low ESR in the PSU output can lead to oscillation.

I put back the original (not low ESR) 10uF and noticed the high's where much cleaner. (no more sssssss & tttttttt's).

It seems a tantalum performes best here......

paulebappie · 19th January 2008, 02:44 PM

Update: The ideal output C for a LM3xx has an ESR of around 1 ohm.

(source National)

16th January 2008, 03:35 AM	#1
RFENG diyAudio Member Join Date: Nov 2007	Best PS capacitor Hi, I looked but could not find any place where people have discussed PS capacitors. Can people share which are the best capacitors for power supply filter. Brand, what are important parameters. I have found information on and off in discussions but not solely for PS caps. Given that these are so important for nice sound, if possible please share your views and opinions. It will help me greatly and might help others like me as well. There are so many to choose from with great variation in prices. It is very confusing. What can be a good compromise... stuff like these. If there is already a thread on this issue please let me know and I will remove this one. Thanks

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16th January 2008, 10:03 PM	#2
jrockhead diyAudio Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Overtaxed Long Island, NY	Greetings, for my money I like Cornell Dubilier computer grade caps from Digikey. Super high quality, low esr, screw terminals, hi ripple current etc. Not cheap but you do get what you pay for and Digikey parts are fresh, not sitting on the shelf for years like the capacitor guy on ebay. HTH, Marcus

18th January 2008, 09:05 AM	#3
paulebappie diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: amsterdam	I upgraded all the caps in my DAC PSU with Panasonic FC and noticed a degadation in sound when i replaced the cap's directly after the regulator (7XXX types). A bit of googling gave me this document: http://www.national.com/an/AN/AN-1148.pdf Where they explain that a low ESR in the PSU output can lead to oscillation. I put back the original (not low ESR) 10uF and noticed the high's where much cleaner. (no more sssssss & tttttttt's). It seems a tantalum performes best here......

19th January 2008, 02:44 PM	#4
paulebappie diyAudio Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: amsterdam	Update: The ideal output C for a LM3xx has an ESR of around 1 ohm. (source National)