I thought it could be useful to know which capacitors work better in audio signal path.
erm, No capacitor is best capacitor, with that said, if you need to use a capacitor and you might not have access to high quality audio grade capacitors, which capacitor would you use?
Rate the caps from 0-8,
0 being a capacitor that is totally not suited,
8 for great,
Being premium grade.
Ive only added pics of caps that are common to me, but feel free to post pics of
capacitors that you would recommend others to use if they can source them.
Many in the audio biz would know this like old hat, but its nice to have a
reference for newbs like me.
eg. (A 1/8, B 2/8, C ...)
Looking forward to some relies.
erm, No capacitor is best capacitor, with that said, if you need to use a capacitor and you might not have access to high quality audio grade capacitors, which capacitor would you use?
Rate the caps from 0-8,
0 being a capacitor that is totally not suited,
8 for great,
Being premium grade.Ive only added pics of caps that are common to me, but feel free to post pics of
capacitors that you would recommend others to use if they can source them.
Many in the audio biz would know this like old hat, but its nice to have a
reference for newbs like me.
eg. (A 1/8, B 2/8, C ...)
Looking forward to some relies.
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It depends on what the use is, signal or compensation, butThese are not too bad for signal caps. I'd say 7.5. Polystyrene might have them beat, to an imperceptional degree but they are more impractical. COG type SMD caps are great for pf compensation duty. I'd say 7 for those for that purpose.
These are different types of caps, most of which are created for a specific purposes. Aside from comparing specs, specific models and/or brands, a generic "good, better, best", won't really work as a valid discussion.
All of the above can be "premium grade" in one application or the other, and the only thing that is "old hat", is the necessity to find out "why" they will or will not work well, on a case by case basis.
If you don't have access to the correct parts, which are normally cheaper by the dozen, then the legwork involved in choosing a valid "junk-box" replacement, is already less than that of researching through hundreds of correct options from a catalog.
Having said all of the above - it boils down to a type vs. type argument, and I've used them all with acceptable results, depending on the situation. A capacitor is just a capacitor, until it needs to do a specific task - all can do a few, but few can do them all.
There is no holy grail answer...
All of the above can be "premium grade" in one application or the other, and the only thing that is "old hat", is the necessity to find out "why" they will or will not work well, on a case by case basis.
If you don't have access to the correct parts, which are normally cheaper by the dozen, then the legwork involved in choosing a valid "junk-box" replacement, is already less than that of researching through hundreds of correct options from a catalog.
Having said all of the above - it boils down to a type vs. type argument, and I've used them all with acceptable results, depending on the situation. A capacitor is just a capacitor, until it needs to do a specific task - all can do a few, but few can do them all.
There is no holy grail answer...
I use regular disc ceramics for oscillation preventers on VAS and driver transistors and regular lytics or bipolar lytics for the feedback and bootstrap, and regular lytic, bipolar lytic or plastic capacitors for the input. Depends on whart i can dig up in 5 minutes from my boxes of parts.
Going fancy with those so called "audiophile" and "black gate" capacitors is just dumb and a waste of money.
And so called "audio Grade" capacitors are simply regular lytics sold at a higher price.
Going fancy with those so called "audiophile" and "black gate" capacitors is just dumb and a waste of money.
And so called "audio Grade" capacitors are simply regular lytics sold at a higher price.
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As the above suggests, you know nothing by looking at pictures. As an example Panasonic makes about 20 different electro's. Which are good for which use follows the consultants best answer: "It depends" About all I can say is I don't use X7R or Z5U in analog, but I use them in digital.
I will use poly pro as you just about can get poly stry. Mylar is lower on the scale, but beats an electro. DF, ESR, vibration, temp, voltage, failure modes, are all factors. Mica can be fine, but dry paper should have died 40 years ago. Also note, caps are not immune to conterfitting. I have bought polystyrene and tested it. It was just cheap mylar.
I will use poly pro as you just about can get poly stry. Mylar is lower on the scale, but beats an electro. DF, ESR, vibration, temp, voltage, failure modes, are all factors. Mica can be fine, but dry paper should have died 40 years ago. Also note, caps are not immune to conterfitting. I have bought polystyrene and tested it. It was just cheap mylar.
Some suggest that NPE has less distortion than standard electro's, but if you can get a film, any film, it will be better than any electrolytic. PP better than PE and PS almost unavailable. I have seen very good evidence if using an electrolytic, to go much larger, like 10 to 25uF to reduce LF distortion. I prefer the smaller value film myself.
No its a new circuit, just something Im playing with in my spare time as a hobby.
I know I can redraw pcb layout for larger film cap, I just came to the selection of components vs footprint, so i came across the capacitor in J
and wanted to know if it would be better than a electrolytic,
and if it practically would actually make a difference.
Thanks once ive gone through enough revisions of the circuit and pcb layout to be happy to build it.
Ill definitely test low and high frequency with a sig gen dummy load and scope.
And ill try a 10uf and 20uf on input to see if lf response is affected.
Ive also toyed with the idea of putting a larger electrolytic with film capacitor in parallel.
Im guessing the film would help pass the mids and highs better than the electrolytic, and let the electrolytic pass the lows cause of its high capacitance compared to the film cap ill place in parallel with it.
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Only in reality, this is where there is barely any signal voltage dropping over the 'lytic to begin with. With essentially no voltage drop and no dissipation, the 'lytics's voltage and temperature coefficients can be arbitrarily hairy and it won't matter (well, assuming ESR is negligible vs. impedances involved).
Help would therefore be most needed at low frequencies, where there is significant voltage drop, but the film cap can't do anything about those.
If you need to use a 'lytic and are fussy about distortion, oversize by up to a factor of 10 and/or go bipolar (which will require much less oversizing).
Your junk box looks a lot like mine!
A. Looks like an FC. Good GP electro though not as low loss as some.
B. No idea. Fancy brand? Looks more European.
C. Silver-mica. High dielectric absorption but very good performance even in RIAA networks and filters. Bad choice for integrators.
D. Stacked film. These look like they should be good, but don't perform as well at RF as some of the dipped film. Not sure why. They seem to come in various types, even styrene. Pretty sure you shouldn't accidently hit it with the soldering iron!
E. Dipped radial film. Usually great bypasses and great audio if you choose the right film type.
F. Cheap ceramic disk. All sorts of flaws unless it's marked as C0G or NP0. Other than those, the ceramics are all piezoelectrics and as noted above, make good microphones with poor stability.
G. HV disk, no idea.
H Typical film axial. Performance depends on what film. If it's out of your junk box, odds are it's polyester (Mylar). A lot of people don't like polyester in the signal path. I've got some tests on my site that might explain why, but the effect is still small. I use 'em for crossovers.
I. Another film, or I've seen old tantalums that look like that. No idea.
J. Not a clue.
A. Looks like an FC. Good GP electro though not as low loss as some.
B. No idea. Fancy brand? Looks more European.
C. Silver-mica. High dielectric absorption but very good performance even in RIAA networks and filters. Bad choice for integrators.
D. Stacked film. These look like they should be good, but don't perform as well at RF as some of the dipped film. Not sure why. They seem to come in various types, even styrene. Pretty sure you shouldn't accidently hit it with the soldering iron!
E. Dipped radial film. Usually great bypasses and great audio if you choose the right film type.
F. Cheap ceramic disk. All sorts of flaws unless it's marked as C0G or NP0. Other than those, the ceramics are all piezoelectrics and as noted above, make good microphones with poor stability.
G. HV disk, no idea.
H Typical film axial. Performance depends on what film. If it's out of your junk box, odds are it's polyester (Mylar). A lot of people don't like polyester in the signal path. I've got some tests on my site that might explain why, but the effect is still small. I use 'em for crossovers.
I. Another film, or I've seen old tantalums that look like that. No idea.
J. Not a clue.
Thnks, I got got the info I was looking for,
My concern was on pol lytic cap on input if it didnt have significant dc on it, but was
That cap with no dc would go -1Vpk on max input signal, I dont think ill ever drive it that
Hard anyway. Ive used pol lytics before, just wanted to learn from the vast
Experience of this forum compared to mine.
My concern was on pol lytic cap on input if it didnt have significant dc on it, but was
That cap with no dc would go -1Vpk on max input signal, I dont think ill ever drive it that
Hard anyway. Ive used pol lytics before, just wanted to learn from the vast
Experience of this forum compared to mine.
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