difference between ceramic/mylar/polypropylene/electrolytic caps

[xplod1236]

whats the difference between ceramic, mylar, polypropylene, and electrolytic capacitors?

I'm building an amp out of LM3886 chips, and in the parts list, it says to use mylar capacitors. Will it be ok if I use ceramic caps?

[Frazzled]

Have a look here

[serengetiplains]

Different capacitor types offer measurably and audibly different electrical performance. An important indicator of performance is what is termed the dielectric absorption (DA) of the capacitor insulating material, a quantum-electrical characteristic that roughly correlates with the fidelity with which a capacitor will transfer an AC signal. The lower the DA the better. DA, for its part, seems roughly a function of the dielectric constant (DC) of the insulating material. DC tables can be found on the internet. The DC of mylar > that of polypropylene > that of teflon. The DC of air is the lowest. Additional considerations apply to electrolytic capacitors. Hope this helps.

[gmarsh]

Depends on the ceramic.

If you're putting capacitors in the audio chain, avoid using ceramics - and if you absolutely must use one, use a NPO capacitor with a much higher voltage rating than the signal that goes through them.

With X7R/X5R capacitors, and *especially* Y5V/F dielectrics, their capacitance goes down when their stored voltage goes up. In the case of a filter, this can cause modulaton of the filter's frequency with the incoming signal - causing a nonlinearity and thus THD.

For decoupling capacitors, you can't beat MLCC ceramics.

[BrianL]

For information on capacitors read Bateman's series
over the past year or two in Electronics World magazine.