Capacitor quality

[Echopraxia]

Has any one used high quality capacitors in their MBFM or MBSID boards? I am wondering if using HQ parts for these boards audio path would get you a better audio signal? If not just the capacitors then what else would help? resistors? Anything on the pic core would not make a difference right? because its just sending control signals to the sound boards? Since I already messed up my MBFM build and would not want to have to make a third, I wanna get some good parts for this one which will work :)

[Nasrudin]

what exactly do you mean with high quality?

i am no expert, but i dont believe that the sound of a synth will be "noticably better" with more expensive components.

As i know, the only parameters that can change are: tolerance, lifetime (especially unter high temperature circumstances), and type.

so as an example: if you use expensive capacitors with low tolerance on a filter modul in your synth, the real cutoff frequency will be nearer to the specified value.

another: if you use high temperature caps in your box your cutoff freq wont change that much within the next year. but overall it wont make it sound "better", in fact you cant even guarantee

the effects i mentioned, since every part in your circuit has tolerances which make every DIY synth sound kinda unique.

Greetings, Nasrudin

[Echopraxia]

what exactly do you mean with high quality?

i am no expert, but i dont believe that the sound of a synth will be "noticably better" with more expensive components.

As i know, the only parameters that can change are: tolerance, lifetime (especially unter high temperature circumstances), and type.

so as an example: if you use expensive capacitors with low tolerance on a filter modul in your synth, the real cutoff frequency will be nearer to the specified value.

another: if you use high temperature caps in your box your cutoff freq wont change that much within the next year. but overall it wont make it sound "better", in fact you cant even guarantee

the effects i mentioned, since every part in your circuit has tolerances which make every DIY synth sound kinda unique.

Greetings, Nasrudin

Thanks for the reply. I won't worry about it then. I was reading a description of a audiophile upgraded synth and it was explaining the use of high quality capacitors and some kind of socket fluid for ICs.

[nILS]

There IS a difference between different cap types, yes. It's not necessarily a cheap vs. expensive thing though.

Most stuff you can read about on audiophile forums and the likes is only reproducable while wearing a tinfoil hat AND having all gold-plated sockets and cables AND having correctly aligned your stereo to the moon phases though. :rolleyes:

[BuriedCode]

There IS a difference between different cap types, yes. It's not necessarily a cheap vs. expensive thing though.

Most stuff you can read about on audiophile forums and the likes is only reproducable while wearing a tinfoil hat AND having all gold-plated sockets and cables AND having correctly aligned your stereo to the moon phases though. :rolleyes:

:laugh: That made me chuckle, and its very accurate! Lots of misinformation is around about certain makes of capacitors for sales purposes, and again, nILS is spot on. Many different 'types' of capacitor which lend themselves to different applications, but that doesn't mean to say 'better' ones in your app will be more expensive. For the most part, in my experience, changing the types of caps in a circuit (same value, and working voltage) makes very little difference to signal 'quality'. The exception being where high gain amplifiers are used, as some capacitors can introduce more noise than others, but its so small it can only make an audiable difference when you're dealing with gains of 40dB+.

For non polarised low value, metalised polyester are pretty good. For polarised, there won't be much difference, as many which are considered 'great' by audiophiles are low ESR aluminium, which have no place in audio - designed for efficient high current switched mode power supplies - providing large currents very quickly, not to carry an audio signal.

I could be wrong! Since I'm not an audio guy really, just a techie.

Buriedcide