Rubycon ZA replacement

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Rubycon ZLG

Rubycon ZLG caps in decent capacity (330uf-680uf) sound great, nice mids and highs compared to Nichicon Fine Gold they replaced. However the bass sounds a bit recessed but still great on certain tracks when compared to the Nichicons or Panasonic FC series. Depends on the source CD/mixing/mastering engineer... they may be too analytic & revealing.

Somebody else's opinion for a good series of Rubycon caps for analog audio ... I need my PRAT back 🙂
 
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Nichicon KZ. Black gate...
Bass and very powerfull midrange, highs are also good. FG and Silmic II are softer.
Ultra low impedance caps are good in digital sections but not in analog. As you describe, pronounced highs, hard lifeless midrange and dry bass. Similar os-con, Panasonic FR, FM...
 
Somebody else's opinion for a good series of Rubycon caps for analog audio ... I need my PRAT back 🙂

ZLG is low-ESR and durable, but not as linear as some older series. YXA and YXG are generally better sounding in analog bypass, though I don't mind using ZL and ZLH in bypass locations.

In the signal or feedback path, Nichicon UD and Elna RJB are more linear.
 
Ultra low impedance caps are good in digital sections but not in analog. As you describe, pronounced highs, hard lifeless midrange and dry bass. Similar os-con, Panasonic FR, FM...

I wouldn't put oscon in analog, they're dry like hell and have lots of midbass that ain't supposed to be there. However they rule on digital supplies.

ZLG for analog sounds clean but analytical, nice highs though and they have a very articulate bass, but some tracks seem to not have bass in sufficient quantity by recording. Will see how things change with a good clock, remember I tried them on a (decent) soundcard.

Somebody with an good sounding cap that I can find on Farnell... I can get them fast and cheap where I live.
 
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Rubycon ZLG & ZLH

They seem to sound nice after a couple of days burn-in. I identified what caused the hollow sound and they were a couple of Panasonic FC on the analog supplies prior to the regulators and FC sound dull & sterile IMHO.
 
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They seem to sound nice after a couple of days burn-in. I identified what caused the hollow sound and they were a couple of Panasonic FC on the analog supplies prior to the regulators that sound dull & sterile IMHO.

FC is the cause of bad sound at various locations, but it is most often metallic and screechy (i.e. it usually causes brightness, not dullness), but YMMV. Direct substitution of Panasonic FM for FC will almost always improve things.

I have no idea why people are obsessed with the FC - it's possible that there were no better commodity 105-degree low-ESR caps available 20+ years ago when they were introduced. Now there are plenty.
 
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With high frequency anolog, lets say digital tpa3116 Panasonic FM and FR completely reduce cymbals to noise and attenuate, weaken, cymbals. Worst caps I heard with tpa3116 regarding detailed highs, ZLH among the best.

Class-D is entirely different, and I probably wouldn't use unbypassed electrolytics anywhere there, but YMMV. ZLH is good in a wide variety of digital and analog applications, but has magnetic leads (like FC and FM) and is only slightly more linear (lower tan delta) than comparable FC and FM. I have been using it in non-critical analog bypass locations, but not in the signal path anywhere (I may try it in a feedback DC blocking location eventually).
 
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