- Thread Starter
- #61
I think a bit of objective analysis has merit given that a lot of bandwidth is allocated to them on audio forums. I hear a lot of it in speaker crossover context.
As much as this might be a fun research project....
Isn't capacitor tweaking really last century's battle?
When it comes to capacitors, I usually think, "Why bother? Go active DSP and make your tweaks in software."
When it comes to electronics, I think, "Why bother? Do the voicing in the FPGA, DSP, or wherever it is you're doing signal processing.."
Delving into the voodoo nuances of capacitors seems like a retrograde research project akin to learning alchemy.*
*this being said by someone who owns a turntable, but uses a ADC-software-defined-DSP-based phono stage...FWIW
I would like to propose/recommend that a separate category be created for the purpose reporting measurements and testing results of higher-end audio capacitors. Not listening tests, but purely bench tests using measuring equipment to determine if any meaningful differences can be found between mid-priced audio capacitors vs higher-end “boutique” audio capacitors. You could start with some of the higher-end capacitors that have received the highest ratings on this site: http://www.humblehomemadehifi.com/Cap.html and then compare them with some of the mid-level audio capacitors.
I realize capacitors don't actually qualify as "equipment" but I think there would be a great deal of interest and benefit in doing these tests. Logistically, shipping capacitors back and forth would also be much easier.
Anyone interested in capacitors in audio should start with Cyril Bateman's definitive articles.
Here's a good place to start:
https://linearaudio.nl/cyril-batemans-capacitor-sound-articles
I could do the same thing but with a solid state amp or DAC.
Are there tests that can expand on Cyril Bateman's efforts? Will the tester understand capacitors as well as Cyril in order to effectively interpret the results? Cyril made specialised equipment for his tests. It is not something to be undertaken lightly as lack of rigour can only provide fuel to the subjective beliefs re caps.
Inserting a component into a system and measuring a change may lead to a conclusion that the component caused the difference when it was possibly the result of another components being very sensitive to the change due to it being outside of design considerations. Such testing, measurement and analysis is not a casual activity.
If the outcomes are really that sensitive to the test harness, what does that say for real world applications?
Ask audio circuit designers about sensitivity to parasitic oscillations, interference pick-up and layout problems.
Sure those are real. But they're application specific.
If capacitors exhibit different sonic characteristics in different circuits, what's the point of the test harness?
Well, we certainly could try to expand on his work. Looking at his measurements, he is using a lower distortion generator than what is built into my Audio Precision analyzer. On the other hand, my analyzer is digital so I can easily deal with noise and I could get an ultra-low-distortion oscillator. The downside of those and same is true of Cyril's is that they are fixed frequency so can't do sweeps and such with them.Are there tests that can expand on Cyril Bateman's efforts? Will the tester understand capacitors as well as Cyril in order to effectively interpret the results? Cyril made specialised equipment for his tests. It is not something to be undertaken lightly as lack of rigour can only provide fuel to the existing subjective beliefs re caps. There are several shoddy cap tests/comparisons on the WWW which are regularly used to back-up subjective opinions.
Limited technical knowhow and chops here, but, like many I suspect, here to learn and maximise my limited resources. Particularly interested in phono preamps should they eventually be on the test bench - seems to be a glut of budget preamps on the market given renewed vinyl interest, and it'd be interesting to see how they stack up against one another.
Enjoyed lurking/ browsing/ learning thus far, many thanks.