B1 Buffer Preamp
Comments
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I've heard good things about them Rich. Have you used them? Compared them to ClarityCaps or others?
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I have several sans the custom wood end panels but won't reveal your secret.Secret secret for now... -
C'mon drink the Kool Aid.Thanks but a little more than I want to spend; I think the ESA is my top for Clarity Caps.
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I have several sans the custom wood end panels but won't reveal your secret.
Not even via PM :biggrin:......."....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
It is a nice enclosure, but more importantly what's in it that I care about. I'll share as soon as I can...
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I've heard good things about them Rich. Have you used them? Compared them to ClarityCaps or others?
Sorry, it's a secret that I can't disclose right now Jake.....:biggrin: Not sure where the wood comes from but I know them enclosures too.
Only thing I compared the DynamiCaps to are some $2 Rat Shack film caps. According to Jeff at Sonicap, they are a good bang for the buck cap. I have to agree they are better than what was in there. Cheaper than what some of my DAC buds use too. I was going to use Gen 1 Sonicaps but Jeff said they will be strident. If you go that route Sonicraft lists DynamiCaps for speaker and electronics. Never asked what the difference was.
Currently using them as coupling caps on the pos and neg balanced output of my DAC. This is kinda like playing a country and western song backwards, with loss and gain. You see with two output boards, I lost discrete balanced out as I had to pull balanced out from R and L channel SE output of each board (op amps). Good thing is no common mode DC. With one ouput board, I get my discrete balanced output back, my SE back and headphone out back. With two DAC's connected to one output board, I put double the mA into the board and double the common mode DC. 10.5v. I can null out DC between balanced pos and neg and SE out by provided pots, but with this Legato board design you are stuck with common mode DC (between balanced GND and balanced pos/balanced neg). My amp designer near had a cow when he heard that amount, so coupling caps it is.
My pre is full differential balanced so I could run with the balanced GND lifted, sounded great. But the downside is if I forgot to mute while switching sources, a nasty attention getting and potentially damaging pop from speakers would occur. With GND connected, no problems.Salk SoundScape 8's * Audio Research Reference 3 * Bottlehead Eros Phono * Park's Audio Budgie SUT * Krell KSA-250 * Harmonic Technology Pro 9+ * Signature Series Sonore Music Server w/Deux PS * Roon * Gustard R26 DAC / Singxer SU-6 DDC * Heavy Plinth Lenco L75 Idler Drive * AA MG-1 Linear Air Bearing Arm * AT33PTG/II & Denon 103R * Richard Gray 600S * NHT B-12d subs * GIK Acoustic Treatments * Sennheiser HD650 * -
After doing more reading, Dynamicaps seem to have great reviews, although they do look like they were made by an 8 year old with crayons and plastic wrap. :cheesygrin: They aren't cheap, but they sound like a good option for the price if the reviews are to be believed.
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If your budget is tight, at least go with ESAs."He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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Just purchased a few UK mades ANSAR Supersound poly caps. Picture below is of the 1uf version which is their second to the top PPA line with copper leads, 2% tolerance, and some sort of rubberized body. The 10uf will be a pair of 4.7uf caps from their top SPA line that adds solid silver leads and a few other upgrades. There seem to be very good reviews of these caps from across the pond, and I read one one thread that someone preferred them to OTHER UK made audiophile caps. :eek:
The best part for now is that the caps cost me about $40 on ebay, but no matter what, they should be a significant upgrade from the cheap Chinese Audiophilers.
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Just got the ANSAR Supersound SPA and PPA caps in the mail, and so far these are the physically best made caps I've ever got my hands on; this includes Sonicaps, ClarityCap ESA, Jantzen Silver/Gold. All caps have sealed, epoxy end-caps and a rubberized coating on the rest of the body. This makes them not only non conductive, but highly dampened which should prevent a few issues. The the red SPA caps have solid silver leads, and the black PPA caps have very thick, insulated solid copper leads; which I'm not sure will fit in the holes of my B1 board. I'll get them installed tonight with my Cardas Quadeutectic solder, and give them an initial listen verses the current Chinese caps. If the sound quality is anywhere near the build quality of these capacitors, I will only be purchasing caps made in the UK from here on out.
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Initial impressions are good; I'll expand more tomorrow morning.
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Listened for a few minutes last night after installing them, and then I left the system on, and will listen again tonight when I get home.Upgrade the B1's caps and this won't be as much of an issue, if an issue at all.
This was the first thing that I noticed, that the sound stage centered itself from the sound through the Chinese caps. There also was more clarity and definition, but the caps had zero time on them and I kept the volume low as it was late. More details tonight after some critical listening, but already I'd say the ANSAR Supersound caps are a huge step up from the Chinese Audiophiler caps, or the previous WIMA MKP caps. Where they rank as far as good caps I've used (Sonicaps, ClarityCap ESA, Jantzen Silver/Gold, Mundorf Supreme) is yet to be determined.
As you can see, I double stacked the SPA caps to achieve the 10uF I needed, but my B1 provides four through-holes per side (eight total) for each capacitor, so it was very easy to accommodate the two caps per location. Caps soldered very well, even with the thick leads, and they remain the best built caps I've used to date. -
I nice difference if I say so. :cool: The stack of red SPA caps are now at tall as the power supply caps.
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After listening to Rebecca Pidgeon last night, the B1 with the ANSAR Supersound capacitors sounds great! The sound is focused, detailed, natural, and the sound stage is where I would expect it to be; both from knowing the recording, and from an enjoyment aspect. I was excited by the musicality presented by the upgraded caps, and the overall lack or grain, glare, or any harshness. Having really enjoyed ClarityCap ESAs in the past, I now know that the UK makes the best caps, and ANSAR SPA and PPA caps are fantastic if you can find them. The sound quality of the caps is as good as the build quality, and I am very happy with this upgrade, and will not be upgrading the caps further. :eek:
