Wima MKP2 vs. FKP2

[mbrennwa]

In the meantime I found the capacitor tests by Cyril Bateman:
https://linearaudio.nl/cyril-batemans-capacitor-sound-articles

 

[IWC Doppel]

If it helps, and it probably won’t, I upgraded from Wima MKP2’s to FKP2’s not even on signal on filter caps on an analogue supply and they were better. More body and better tonality, more real and natural sounding. Dynamics were as good or better. The only reason I changed was it was cheap and reading the Wima brochure they were seemingly a better choice

Not life changing but for a few pounds great value

 

[IWC Doppel]

PS they fortunately don’t seem to need a lot of running in either

 

[mbrennwa]

Which capacity value do you have? I'd be interested in 4.7 uF parts, and FKPs of this value are huge. I am worried they would act as a big antenna for noise.

 

[IWC Doppel]

Mine are only 0.01uf originally swapped out the same value ceramics

 

[IWC Doppel]

I’ve read a bit about copper foil wrapping caps to GND on the outside. Look in old CD players and it was quite common, usually on smoothing caps though

 

[dotneck335]

I'm a fan of Wima FKPs, but, yes, they are just too f****** big in values above ~2 uF. That's where I go to Nichicon MUSE bipolars.

 

[mbrennwa]

I’ve read a bit about copper foil wrapping caps to GND on the outside. Look in old CD players and it was quite common, usually on smoothing caps though

Shielding might help to reduce noise pickup. However, I'd prefer to not create the problem in the first place...

 

[vacuphile]

in today's world of SS electronics, the sheer SIZE of that ... would probably be prohibitive on most circuit boards. ...Nichicon BiPolar ... 63¢

Last time I built something "CLEAN!!" I started with the large input film caps, and let the size be what it wanted to be (even though this had to travel a lot).

But that was for ME. If it was for other people, yeah, an e-cap is fine.

I have seen measurements where bipolars were as good as film caps, distortion virtually immeasurable, even with a voltage over the capacitor. Now, with bipolars you can go to very large capacitances for the input stage. In my present design, I use 22uF over 47 k. This makes the voltage drop over the capacitor miniscule. Since distortion can only be introduced by the proportion the capacitor absorbs from the voltage divider on the input, which is even smaller, the total contribution to distortion is exactly that: something that is almost immeasurably small times something even smaller. Do the math yourself.

 

[Markw4]

So when different types of caps sound different its not necessarily due to steady-state harmonic distortion? Okay. Not sure that's necessarily all that matters though.

 

[Groundloops]

A capable circuit designer can get stellar performance from off-the-shelf components, so why use anything else?

To nudge back in the direction of the thread topic: I once compared three 220 nF film caps on an HP 4194A impedance analyzer: A $0.50 Panasonic EF-series, a $2 Solen film cap, and a $20 Mundorf silver-in-oil. The Panasonic measured closer to an ideal cap (lower ESR, higher SRF) than the others. The Mundorf measured the worst.

Tom

Are you talking about Panasonic EF organic polymer capacitors?

 

[tomchr]

Nope. Polypropylene film capacitors.

Tom

 

[NickKUK]

I have seen measurements where bipolars were as good as film caps, distortion virtually immeasurable, even with a voltage over the capacitor. Now, with bipolars you can go to very large capacitances for the input stage. In my present design, I use 22uF over 47 k. This makes the voltage drop over the capacitor miniscule. Since distortion can only be introduced by the proportion the capacitor absorbs from the voltage divider on the input, which is even smaller, the total contribution to distortion is exactly that: something that is almost immeasurably small times something even smaller. Do the math yourself.

I like the FKP1s alot, need to try FKP2. Also like the 10uF MKP4 alot. I tried and eventually came to the opinion I dislike the MKP10.

In fact i’ll have to experiment to find a low leakage/low distortion cap for an ADC circuit for AC decoupling so i’m interested in results (i know it becomes valued info for manufacturers).

 

[digiNoob]

Do the FKP2 if you find the size you need. Don't worry about the $ difference (you'll spend more $$ the next time you visit a McDonald's then you spend on a few FKP2s) and your ears will thank you.