Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article , says...
The second type of ceramic cap is compact but they show high changes in capacitance with temperature, frequency and applied voltage. They are fine for bypass and coupling as long as the cap's limitations are taken into consideration. I'm sure the ceramic cap I used was the second type. The changes in capacitance with voltage
can cause audible audio distortion which won't happen with other types of caps.
NP0/C0G dielectrics are pretty good, but many of the other dielectrics have
a lot of distortion. The good news is that the large DC bias on them makes
it less of an issue, but they were cheap and plentiful.
That explains a lot to me. I had never given a thought as to a
capacitor at audio. I doubt I could tell any difference in the sound,
but if I ever pull the old receiver back out I may replace the replaced
capacitors with some of the 'orange drop' type.
A decade ago I'd have recommended doing that, but I don't think you can
buy Sprague Orange Drops anymore. They were the standard replacement types
for those applications for many many years. Now, I guess I would suggest
the Panasonic sputtered mylars from digi-key, or the xicon sputtered mylars.
I well aware of the audiophile 'snake oil'. The best one is a line cord
that goes for over $ 100. Guess they do not think of the regular copper
wire going from the socket to the breaker box, or cheap wire going back
to the power generating station.
There is a lot of silliness in the audiophile market, and a lot of gear
that is designed to be distorting in an interesting way.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."