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Originally Posted by loki993 /img/forum/go_quote.gif
So Leave the Wimas out if someone was to use them? Or dont worry so much about the caps. Is there another one that can be used that doesn't smooth everything out as much, even though as I would imagine this is probably the primary reason for having a bypass to begin with. I heard early on that people were using the Vitamin Q caps for these, correct? how are they?
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"Smooth" was not the word I used.
Bypassing electrolytics in the audio signal path is done to provide better high-frequency response. When one concludes that bigger electrolytic caps are better, there is a caveat - the bigger caps are slower. So, you may gain bass but lose detail. This may happen even if you use a minimally-sized electrolytic by itself. Actually, you want a majority of the music signal to go through the film cap, given a choice, but there are diminishing returns there as well. Bypassing in the signal path does not follow prescribed rules - it's all trial and error: some combinations work well, others may not.
Generally speaking, using 0.1uf or 0.22uf Wima MKP's for bypassing has a long history of successful results in the Millett Hybrid heritage. We tried them for the Starving Student long ago (probably rds who did it first) and they worked well, so they became part of the design for the SSMH PCB. VitaminQ's are probably a better choice, but there are tradeoffs in size, bass response, and a bit of detail. It would be very difficult to get them to fit on the PCB and in the custom Beezer/Hammond case, for instance.
At any rate, a great deal of the higher audio frequencies - the kind you regularly resolve into details with your ears - go through the film cap bypasses anyway, so the electrolytic only has effect in the lower frequencies. Sort of.
As I said, when bypassing, strict rules don't always apply. At any rate, "leveling out the differences with electrolytic boutique options" was a very general statement and was
not meant at all to mean that it "smoothed everything out."
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Yeah I did a little research and it seems that the Muse ES dont come in 63v, the highest they have are 1000uF 50v oh well. I got a bit excited about them because that said they have excellent bass slam, I'm a bit of basshead, hence the DT770 pros.
The description of the ES on the Beezar site of them is very good though. Is there anywhere else that kinda explains how different caps sound and things like that? |
Dsavitsk's (the SSMH PCB designer) own website is one of the best sources on the net for this:
Notes on Output Coupling Capacitors
There is also another that's not quite as good in scoring, etc., but still useful:
Humble Homemade Hifi - Cap Test
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I was in fact looking at the diyforums BOM, I'm also assuming this is the one that TomB is using for the kits also, because he posted it at sometime, and was thinking about following that pretty closely. Probably going with bigger caps, just becasue. Depends on what I decide to do about a case. |
Yes - Beezar/DIYForums/TomB - we're all the same person.
The kits are all packaged with a printout of that BOM - that's all you need to populate the PCB, along with the paint-by-numbers silkscreen.
Indeed, that one looks nice... except that it needs to be rated for 63 V
