What kind of Capacitors does Liquid Spark Amp use? (Alex Cavalli responded on page 2)

[john5220]

Update it appears Alex Cavalli has graced us with his presence on page 2, he confirmed all the electrolytic caps are indeed Japanese, exclusively Panasonic and Nichicon. the Mosfet is American and so on

I was looking at this pic and am worried they might be cheapo Taiwan caps

I wish Amir did a teardown review on the quality of the components used here. He did one for Topping D30 and it was insanely good German and Japanese capacitors. I am worried the spark may use generic cheap stuff from Taiwan.

 

[LTig]

I was looking at this pic and am worried they might be cheapo Taiwan caps

I wish Amir did a teardown review on the quality of the components used here. He did one for Topping D30 and it was insanely good German and Japanese capacitors. I am worried the spark may use generic cheap stuff from Taiwan.

If you have no problem with hum - relax. Just wait until those problems come up, and if they are caused by the caps, replace them all.

 

[john5220]

No I have no issues, but would feel better if Japanese of German caps were used, to get that warm fuzzy feeling inside my soul

The way this amp is designed tho Cavalli claims there are no caps in the signal pathway for sound not sure what that means

 

[restorer-john]

The vent stamping indicates the main filter capacitors are Panasonic.
The left cap is consistent with Nichicon. The others could be Nichicon or YowPing brand, I can't tell.

 

[raif71]

How's the temperature issue @john5220? I just saw Z Reviews about JDS Labs Atom and Liquid Spark and he did mentioned the LS as being warm or hot. Does the heat still bother you?

 

[LTig]

No I have no issues, but would feel better if Japanese of German caps were used, to get that warm fuzzy feeling inside my soul

The way this amp is designed tho Cavalli claims there are no caps in the signal pathway for sound not sure what that means

It means no coupling caps. Those caps you see are for stabilisation of the power supply voltages.

 

[john5220]

How's the temperature issue @john5220? I just saw Z Reviews about JDS Labs Atom and Liquid Spark and he did mentioned the LS as being warm or hot. Does the heat still bother you?

No the heat is fine, I live in the Caribbean so that is why it is hotter than one expects anything to be everything here always gets hot.

I am not bothered by it anymore, there is nothing else like this for this price its all metal aluminum the volume knob is perfection and Z said the JDS labs volume button is very cheap feeling.

At this point I wouldn't trade this or return it, this combo is not only perfect sounding but amazing to look at on my desk the spark amp aesthetics looks so good with the Black D30. Plus ontop of that the D30 uses German and Japanese parts only. This thing is so perfect I am very satisfied, the buyers remorse is because it isn't a big difference compared to my Xonar DG budget card but the cleaner sound is there and you can hear it there is no doubt about it. I keep putting my hands over the spark and rubbing it for some weird alien feeling dunno why the heat and smooth aluminum and the Monolith logo in the center gives this nice feeling to touch. The Spark Amp is pretty heavy which is what I like about it also

The human ear won't hear anything beyond this in terms of clarity and noise that I am sure off./

 

[raif71]

No the heat is fine, I live in the Caribbean so that is why it is hotter than one expects anything to be everything here always gets hot.

I am not bothered by it anymore, there is nothing else like this for this price its all metal aluminum the volume knob is perfection and Z said the JDS labs volume button is very cheap feeling.

At this point I wouldn't trade this or return it, this combo is not only perfect sounding but amazing to look at on my desk the spark amp aesthetics looks so good with the Black D30. Plus ontop of that the D30 uses German and Japanese parts only. This thing is so perfect I am very satisfied, the buyers remorse is because it isn't a big difference compared to my Xonar DG budget card but the cleaner sound is there and you can hear it there is no doubt about it. I keep putting my hands over the spark and rubbing it for some weird alien feeling dunno why the heat and smooth aluminum and the Monolith logo in the center gives this nice feeling to touch. The Spark Amp is pretty heavy which is what I like about it also

The human ear won't hear anything beyond this in terms of clarity and noise that I am sure off./

I'm glad you are not bothered by the heat as a local seller in my country just became a distributor of Monoprice products and is asking for suggestions on the product choices. I might just suggest this amp . Currently thx amp is the popular choice but that is a bit too expensive (for me).

 

[john5220]

The vent stamping indicates the main filter capacitors are Panasonic.
The left cap is consistent with Nichicon. The others could be Nichicon or YowPing brand, I can't tell.

ooh nice and what about these 2 pics can you tell from here?

 

[john5220]

I'm glad you are not bothered by the heat as a local seller in my country just became a distributor of Monoprice products and is asking for suggestions on the product choices. I might just suggest this amp . Currently thx amp is the popular choice but that is a bit too expensive (for me).

Considering there is no reason to buy anything other than the Spark as it will play anything and there is no audible difference I would just get the spark if I were you.

Only reason to get any other amp is because you want a bigger more premium LOOKING amp which I could understand. More Aluminum the better I suppose

 

[Cahudson42]

The LS may not equal the SINAD of the Atom etc. But remember a good part of why is the weird 30hz spike - rather than junk to the right of the 1khz test tone. Audibly, the 30hz spike probably means little - if anything.

Another reviewer replaced the LS supply temporarily with a clean benchtop one - 30hz spike disappeared..

 

[RayDunzl]

ooh nice and what about these 2 pics can you tell from here?

What do the labels say?

 

[john5220]

I just need to know if all these capacitors are Japanese and or German and I am golden after that

 

[Ron Texas]

Don't loose any sleep over it.

 

[solderdude]

I just need to know if all these capacitors are Japanese and or German and I am golden after that

When these caps were indeed Panasonic there would be an M in a small square printed on it. Don't see any.
Also they always have voltage ratings on them, don't see any either.
To me they look like generic (probably Chinese) caps.
At least they are marked 105oC
The 2 big caps seem to be real Panasonic FS series (made in Malaysia)

These caps are all decoupling caps and are NOT in the audio-part. As the power supply is DC 36V in (which is then split into +/- 18V and regulated) I would not worry about those capacitors in the least.

The caps in the pictures above are not 'known brand' capacitors.

In the picture below the 4 brown (lower) capacitors in the back are Nichicon but in the pictures you posted seem to be generic (Chinese) ones

If you really want to know you need to open it up and take close-up pics and post them.

I would not worry in the slightest least about the origin of the internal parts.

The potmeter is Chinese and the output relay is Japanese.

 

[restorer-john]

When these caps were indeed Panasonic there would be an M in a small square printed on it. Don't see any.

The giveaway is the top pressure vent stampings. Our Chinese friends haven't worked out a consistent way to fake the tops and the base moldings which are unique to each manufacturer.

When checking potential fakes, keep this graphic at hand. Don't just check the top, match the bottom as well...(the smaller caps do not have a top marking you can ID via the bottom moulding)

Here's a Nichicon:

See how the top matches the bottom? (Restorer John's tip of the day!)

Fake Nichicons, Elna and of course Rubycons are absolutely everywhere. Go look at your stock of "bargain" "genuine" caps and report back if you have any fakes.

 

[solderdude]

My Philips capacitors have the exact same enclosure as Elna and ones with very different not shown vents (a bit like Nippon CC)
Würth has same vent as Nichicon but different bottom side.
Have Panasonic caps with plastic tops.
Smaller (5mm dia.) Panasonics and Nichicons have no vents.
Have some other brands as well like TLEC with Nichicon top only

All my Panasonics and Elna's as well as Nichicons seem to be real (Farnell, Mouser and Conrad)
Wouldn't buy on fleabay though.

 

[raif71]

When these caps were indeed Panasonic there would be an M in a small square printed on it.
The 2 big caps seem to be real Panasonic FS series (made in Malaisia)

You mean Malaysia ?

 

[restorer-john]

You mean Malaysia ?

I actually like the typo. Malaisia would be the state of feeling sick. As in "I think I've got a case of malaisia from eating those 8 day old burritos I found in the back of the fridge"

 

[raif71]

I actually like the typo. Malaisia would be the state of feeling sick. As in "I think I've got a case of malaisia from eating those 8 day old burritos I found in the back of the fridge"

FYI, I'm from Malaysia.