Despite of this my experience with Clarity CSA isn't that glowing when used in speaker XO. Got a wake up call after I change to Auricap XO.
IME this is close to the worst cap i have ever tried in a crossover. It has such glaring midrange colourations that practically any industrial MKP cap sounds better. In this case you really get what you pay for.
As you are speaking about XO, I would like to upgrade a 30 years 6uF.
A standard pp cornell dubilier may be considered, but from audio point of view, have you better choice ?
https://www.mouser.fr/datasheet/2/88/930C-29214.pdf
A standard pp cornell dubilier may be considered, but from audio point of view, have you better choice ?
https://www.mouser.fr/datasheet/2/88/930C-29214.pdf
The Russian Teflons have problems at the freq extremes. The highs missing some sparkle and the bass is not very deep and rather dry. So the mids get bit more pronounced. The mids are very transparent. The Russian teflons have the tendency to sound a bit pale or colorless. But there are rigs where they fit quite good.
Jantzen Superior, IMO very neutral and very good and it is not too expensive and better than any Mundorf.
To tame nasty sounding highs or mids I use old MKV caps. For very problematic upper mids & highs or just for darkening the overall sound I use Russian hybrid caps - K75 (bloated bass cos upper bass is pronounced and not very fast).
Obbligato Copper caps, very fast, bass is rather dry but deep and highs are detailed and extended. Overall a tad bright but not too much.
Obbligato Gold caps, smooth mids & highs but still detailed. Sub bass is a bit weak, highs are a bit decreased. Very good space & soundstage info and good human voice reproduction.
Jensen PIO, a bit darker. Best soundstage depth info of all caps I know but width is not the best. Overall very good, rather smooth but not blurry or slow. Very good to tame bigger caps like Solen MKPs or any other rather cheap MKP. A 0,22uF Jensen PIO in parallel will clean up the mids and highs very successfully.
Yeah, good old German quality! MKV caps can be life savers. An US speaker crossover expert (forgot his name) said that the MKVs are the least evil sounding caps out there. Smooth silky mids & highs, slightly pronounced upper bass and very good human voice reproduction.
This is precisely the way i would describe the Soviet teflons. Actually, apart from those my only other teflon encounters were with Sonicap Platinums which sounded very different.
Seems like teflon is not my material. Neither for caps, nor wire.
A physically larger part with 1watt rating will be less stressed by heat and voltage.
Self-heating occur when the resistor has a temperature coefficient and the signal changes the power dissipation. When the thermal time constants are getting anywhere near the audio freq range you get distortion at low frequencies.
Is it better to use over rated (higher wattage) resistors for low noise, or just enough wattage capability to cover expected conditions plus a little more for safty. Over rating will result in cooler resistors, so therefore, less noise.
The thermal noise of all resistances is the same. The answer is in watts. If there is current flowing through the resistor, there will be additional noise, the amount and spectral characteristics of which are wildly different.
Issues of the power rating of a resistor are only peripherally related to its noise sources. Self-heating capable of significantly raising a resistor's Kelvin temperature (which is what counts) from the usual 300-350 found in operating electronic equipment would mean that the resistor is run at a high power level, which argues independently for a higher power-capable resistor, regardless of noise considerations.
Are they way better than Jantzen Cross Cap ? I was a little disapointed by those last while it's very ok for the price as I need high capacitance...
I also bought some SCR Smart cap serie that have the form factor of the Mundorf EVO range for a better ESR and a thick red casing that is a little on the rubber side... but I can not input yet as non already tested... but the ones I purchased (a pair) are in the 0.5% precision range... not bad and not matched option whatever at Toutlehautparleur shop !
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Not Vodka, I had a glass of Spanish Reserva.
And I'm not by any means a Silmic II fan. For my personal rig they only serve as sound problem solutions. I.e.: My best sounding Tuner is the Onkyo T-4970 (yes even better than Accuphase or McIntosh) but the sound is a tad too bright and soundstage is rather upfront. I tamed it with TI opamps, carbon resistors & Silmic II on signal and opamp decoupling.
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don't take me wrong, in the last amp I refurbished I putted to SII in serie somewhere... But most of the time I don't like it but in serie as the very brown serie I (at least non II marked) that were used in serie as well (often Sony & Marantz, output stages often). At least I always some else better in every situation for decoupling purposes.
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The Silmic I (the very dark brown ones) are much more darker overall and the bass is overblown like nothing else - IMO they are unbearable by any means.
Silmic II has same tendency but the mids are not extremely (like I version) but mildly recessed. Highs are also more open and bass is rather triode like with pronounced upper bass.
Silmic II has same tendency but the mids are not extremely (like I version) but mildly recessed. Highs are also more open and bass is rather triode like with pronounced upper bass.
I liked the Silmic brown one // with something else for what they can hide or equilibrium sometimes.
I sometimes also use the SII in -++- serie conf when I don't like what a good polar is doing sometimes cause it's too much of one thing as the Muse ES (the new green ones, not the older green not flashy casing ones that were very good). For me it's just about to tune some tonal balance... that's all ! Idem for the KZ : too much of a same lower treble chareacter they often add (stuning upper bass and mid often in some decoupling area : like it a lot for upper amp stages)
I sometimes also use the SII in -++- serie conf when I don't like what a good polar is doing sometimes cause it's too much of one thing as the Muse ES (the new green ones, not the older green not flashy casing ones that were very good). For me it's just about to tune some tonal balance... that's all ! Idem for the KZ : too much of a same lower treble chareacter they often add (stuning upper bass and mid often in some decoupling area : like it a lot for upper amp stages)
You mean the new matte greens do sound worse than the old shiny green ones? I ask cos I have a bag full of vintage shiny greens.
I'm glad to be not totally deaf so...
No, I'm talking of the Nichicon bipolar Muse ES that have darker green casing in the 80s...(Philps cd player for instance) I dunno if they are good because as having many hours of service they exhebit certainly higher resistance... but there is defintly something else that adding Z which can be made with a resistor instead... they sometimes did the job (and also in a new circuitry if needed) with a lot of good things ! Maybe the chemical... many changed. I liked also a lot the very old Elnas from the late 70s and 80s ! The huge grey one for instance... that were very solid cap, just good enough modern cap, not as some of the early 70s and before that were less solid than todays'...
No, I'm talking of the Nichicon bipolar Muse ES that have darker green casing in the 80s...(Philps cd player for instance) I dunno if they are good because as having many hours of service they exhebit certainly higher resistance... but there is defintly something else that adding Z which can be made with a resistor instead... they sometimes did the job (and also in a new circuitry if needed) with a lot of good things ! Maybe the chemical... many changed. I liked also a lot the very old Elnas from the late 70s and 80s ! The huge grey one for instance... that were very solid cap, just good enough modern cap, not as some of the early 70s and before that were less solid than todays'...
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Hi all,
I have been following this thread "on & off" and have over the years been listening to probably around 50 different electrolytic capacitors trying to find one that has an (to my ears) optimum balance between speed, dynamics, tonal balance, tonal nuance, detail, transparency, realistic spatial rendering, musicality, etc., etc. ...
I have found some that I like (and some that are still being evaluated like e.g. the Audionote Kaisei) but have not really found one that I consider "just it". The KZs are really good in some respects, maybe the fine golds, the rubycon ZLs also in some respects (but very tricky in other respects), Silmics being too bright for me, and so on ...
Adding to the challenge of finding the best capacitor "series" is then the (again to my ears) notable audible differences between the same series' voltage, capacitance, and capacitor sizes ... They just don't sound identical and - unfortunately - most often the higher voltages are those that sound the best IMHO (this e.g. does correlate with a lower tan delta value, typically).
Anyway, the other day I was looking at pictures of the Denafrips Pontus DAC and seeing that they use a lot of the same type of capacitors it made me think of what is THE best capacitor people here know of? Not the series (e.g. ES or KZ etc.) but THE ONE capacitor (series, capacitance, size, voltage) that each person here considers the very best they know of?
Personally I can say that I haven't really found it but a couple of cautious suggestions would be the Panasonic HFZ 68uF/40VDC (obsolete), the HFZ 220uF/35VDC, the Elna Starget 100uF/35VDC (also obsolete I think), and possibly (and it is possibly) the Kaisei 470uF/25 VDC. To my ears the Kaisei's sound is close to that of a Nichicon Fine Gold but slightly more refined. And much more expensive.
One more consideration from my perspective is that a capacitor besides providing appropriate filtering also is a voltage "stabilizer". With this in mind I personally rarely use capacitors with a capacitance lower than 470 uF - except for filtering/parallelling with other larger capacitors - which doesn't make things easier ...
I also like the Nichicon KZ series but somehow miss a balanced tone here ... to my ears they can be a bit "screamy" in the upper midrange ...
Well, hoping to hear about what you may consider your very best capacitor
Cheers,
Jesper
I have been following this thread "on & off" and have over the years been listening to probably around 50 different electrolytic capacitors trying to find one that has an (to my ears) optimum balance between speed, dynamics, tonal balance, tonal nuance, detail, transparency, realistic spatial rendering, musicality, etc., etc. ...
I have found some that I like (and some that are still being evaluated like e.g. the Audionote Kaisei) but have not really found one that I consider "just it". The KZs are really good in some respects, maybe the fine golds, the rubycon ZLs also in some respects (but very tricky in other respects), Silmics being too bright for me, and so on ...
Adding to the challenge of finding the best capacitor "series" is then the (again to my ears) notable audible differences between the same series' voltage, capacitance, and capacitor sizes ... They just don't sound identical and - unfortunately - most often the higher voltages are those that sound the best IMHO (this e.g. does correlate with a lower tan delta value, typically).
Anyway, the other day I was looking at pictures of the Denafrips Pontus DAC and seeing that they use a lot of the same type of capacitors it made me think of what is THE best capacitor people here know of? Not the series (e.g. ES or KZ etc.) but THE ONE capacitor (series, capacitance, size, voltage) that each person here considers the very best they know of?
Personally I can say that I haven't really found it but a couple of cautious suggestions would be the Panasonic HFZ 68uF/40VDC (obsolete), the HFZ 220uF/35VDC, the Elna Starget 100uF/35VDC (also obsolete I think), and possibly (and it is possibly) the Kaisei 470uF/25 VDC. To my ears the Kaisei's sound is close to that of a Nichicon Fine Gold but slightly more refined. And much more expensive.
One more consideration from my perspective is that a capacitor besides providing appropriate filtering also is a voltage "stabilizer". With this in mind I personally rarely use capacitors with a capacitance lower than 470 uF - except for filtering/parallelling with other larger capacitors - which doesn't make things easier ...
I also like the Nichicon KZ series but somehow miss a balanced tone here ... to my ears they can be a bit "screamy" in the upper midrange ...
Well, hoping to hear about what you may consider your very best capacitor
Cheers,
Jesper