AC coupling signal bypass

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IWC Doppel

IWC Doppel

Member
Joined 2020
#1
Any issue or consideration when adding a film bypass cap in parallel to the electrolytic for AC coupling, with a wire connection to the film cap to the back of the board. So the bypass cap is remote and connected by low impedance cable as no room to fit a decent film cap direct with the electrolytic ?
 
#4
For those interested I have ended up with an amazing step forward with running some 1uf 200V Arizona Blue caps in parallel in both the AC coupling signal and even more impact running the same caps on the first set of analogue power supply which already has Mundorf AG's
 
#6
Have you ever tried changing caps ? If you haven't tried changing the same value caps then you should before you conclude with simplistic theories, even caps that measure simulate with ESR, ESL etc can and often do sound different
 
#10
The two plates can be copper, tin, aluminum etc the dielctrics poly prop, polyester, Mica, paper, some in oil, wax, wet and dry electrolytic etc, etc, they have different properties and unsurprisingly affect the sound. annoyingly no cap is a cap its a resistor, and inductor and some are magnets as well
 
#12
Are you aware of the concept of expectation bias? Are you also aware that external influences that have nothing to do with the sound we hear can affect what we perceive?
If a coupling cap is of quality construction and sized properly for the intended application, it will not influence the signal integrity. Many highly praised audio components have (OH Horrors!) electrolytic caps directly in the signal path...and the reviewers still praised them.
At some point this endeavor for "perfect, flawless audio" becomes counter productive...and maybe even a little unhealthy...obsession never serves one well. Sometimes it's best to just relax and listen to some music.

Mike
 
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#14
I am well aware of expectation bias, usually those that highlight it have never A-B's blind or otherwise, never actually experimented and often have poorly performing equipment. I do spend many hours listening to A,B,C etc with others switching not because I want to prove a point or show I have been rigorous but because I want to make the right decisions. I have a stock player that I use as bench mark, it's a pain to plug, unplug and ensure I'm moving forward, but it's a valuable process. There are heaps of reviewers and bloggers that never go through the time and expense of doing this and only listen on headphones only that are crap on crap equipment in very compromised rooms, hence the headphones I assume.

I say that not to score points or in any way suggest that my system or experiences might be 'better' but more to recognise that everything in life is a complex compromise and to beleive that all capacitors sound the same is naive and can only be from expectation bias, never having experimented or poorly resolving set ups.
 
#15
nigelwright7557 said:
A 10uf cap is a 10uf cap no matter what dielectric you use.
Impedance at any frequency is 1/2 pi f c.
If its not its a crap cap.
Click to expand...

All 2 door cars are 2 door cars, all 70cl bottles of wine are 70cl bottles of wine, all 4 bedroom houses are 4 bedroom houses, all 2 way speakers are 2 way speakers, all 100W amplifiers are 100w amplifiers no matter how or what the car is made of what engine and suspension it has how it drives, where and how well the grapes are grown, how it tastes, what location, construction and design of the house what it looks like and what it offers for the owner, what cabinets, size, crossover and drive unit are used and how it sounds. What the 100W amplifier delivers at 2.5 Ohms and 30 Hz and what it actually sounds like etc

If they dont have 2 doors, 70cl, 4 bedrooms, 2 drive units and at some point deliver 100w they are crap
 
#17
So how is it that I can constantly recognise changes, articulate the sound signatures and even spot specific capacitor signatures in my and other familiar systems with no expectation bias. I dont need to sit in the exact same position to do this, or have the same seating position to familiarise myself with how a car drives, have the same glass to appreciate the wine, visit the house in summer or winter to evaluate etc.

The reason is its not that subtle !
 
#18
I think its your imagination.
It would be interesting for you to do some "blind" tests where someone else sets up an amplifier with different caps.
Then randomly fits a cap for you to listen to.

On my amps they are designed right with as flat a frequency response as I can get.
Putting in a different cap wont change that as feedback will remove any changes.
 
#19
I have soldered and desoldered many times and have a lot of 'exotic' components that I removed and imagined would be better, wanted, pleaded and hoped with desperation would be better but weren't in my system

I recently A-B'd three parallel mains filters, JUST caps in differential mode across live and neutral, I know the three units, very similar but subtly different two have the same value caps but different items, I listened whilst another switched and they were A,B,C not only did I choose my preferred unit blind but stated correctly which was which. These weren't even in the signal or any components making the music just plugged in to an adjacent socket

Am I golden eared - no, was I lucky - possibly, but improbably

It's always easy to stand behind simple theory and 'science', when as we all know science is only theories that have yet to be proven incorrect. BTW I am not trying to be an evangelist, set out any answers or challenge existing theories more to say trust your ears they have been developed over a very long time and are the ultimate judge

There are a Lot of physical and performance differences between components, especially caps. so no surprise they sound different
 
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