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How To Choose Nichicon Audio Capacitors. Are They Worth It

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00:00:10.400
recently I decided to stock up on some
00:00:13.339 00:00:13.349 frequently used electrolytic capacitors
00:00:15.560 00:00:15.570 suitable for high fidelity solid state
00:00:18.290 00:00:18.300 equipment as I research which wants to
00:00:20.390 00:00:20.400 buy though I quickly got overwhelmed and
00:00:23.029 00:00:23.039 decided it would be simpler if I just
00:00:25.310 00:00:25.320 shopped within one brand of capacitors I
00:00:28.009 00:00:28.019 chose Nishikawa as they have a good
00:00:30.560 00:00:30.570 reputation for quality even when
00:00:32.900 00:00:32.910 shopping just Nisha Kondo I found that
00:00:35.270 00:00:35.280 the same value capacitors were available
00:00:37.280 00:00:37.290 in many different series all with widely
00:00:40.010 00:00:40.020 varying prices
00:00:41.000 00:00:41.010 Nisha Khan has a special line of
00:00:42.979 00:00:42.989 capacitors designed just for audio and
00:00:45.200 00:00:45.210 within that line alone there are 17
00:00:48.170 00:00:48.180 different series in the end I purchased
00:00:50.779 00:00:50.789 the Nishikawa audio application kit and
00:00:53.000 00:00:53.010 the 370 lighting kit the audio kit has
00:00:56.420 00:00:56.430 values up to 330 micro farad and the
00:00:59.689 00:00:59.699 lighting kit has values up to 3300
00:01:02.299 00:01:02.309 between the two kits I have a good
00:01:04.160 00:01:04.170 stockpile to cover much but not all of
00:01:06.440 00:01:06.450 the electrolytic capacitors I'll need to
00:01:08.929 00:01:08.939 repair this integrated amp for example I
00:01:10.940 00:01:10.950 still had to separately order these 1020
00:01:14.600 00:01:14.610 300 micro farad caps even after ordering
00:01:18.080 00:01:18.090 my capacitors I was still confused about
00:01:20.330 00:01:20.340 Nishikawa lineup and decided to do more
00:01:23.090 00:01:23.100 research to clear things up for myself
00:01:24.740 00:01:24.750 and to make this video for you I'll
00:01:27.560 00:01:27.570 break down each series in Nashik ons
00:01:29.630 00:01:29.640 audio line and we'll compare their
00:01:32.149 00:01:32.159 features and prices among each other and
00:01:34.760 00:01:34.770 also to their general purpose capacitors
00:01:37.399 00:01:37.409 in the spreadsheet I've broken their
00:01:39.319 00:01:39.329 audio line into three general product
00:01:41.480 00:01:41.490 lines miniature large and chip remember
00:01:45.230 00:01:45.240 these are all electrolytic s-- note that
00:01:47.899 00:01:47.909 the miniature and chip series have the
00:01:50.240 00:01:50.250 prefix U and the large series have the
00:01:52.819 00:01:52.829 prefix L in the spreadsheet I've added a
00:01:55.580 00:01:55.590 hyphen between the U or ALP refix and
00:01:58.310 00:01:58.320 the series name
00:01:59.690 00:01:59.700 that's because Nisha con sometimes lists
00:02:01.760 00:02:01.770 the caps with the U or L prefix and
00:02:03.830 00:02:03.840 sometimes without let's first look at
00:02:06.590 00:02:06.600 the miniature audio capacitors I've
00:02:08.690 00:02:08.700 broken these down into five categories
00:02:10.720 00:02:10.730 first is the small category which have
00:02:13.940 00:02:13.950 smallest physical size of the miniatures
00:02:15.920 00:02:15.930 the UMW's have a five millimeter height
00:02:19.339 00:02:19.349 the usw is a seven millimeter height and
00:02:22.970 00:02:22.980 the UFW z' are a bit larger the standard
00:02:26.089 00:02:26.099 grid category includes the 105 Celsius
00:02:29.180 00:02:29.190 rated UK t-series and the UK W series
00:02:32.540 00:02:32.550 that nishikawa's is good for video as
00:02:35.030 00:02:35.040 well as audio they don't explain why
00:02:38.300 00:02:38.310 this would be and I haven't been able to
00:02:40.339 00:02:40.349 determine this from these specifications
00:02:42.470 00:02:42.480 the high grade category also includes a
00:02:44.990 00:02:45.000 105 C rated series called UK a and an AV
00:02:49.009 00:02:49.019 series called u FG the u FG is also part
00:02:52.970 00:02:52.980 of neocons muse lineup and it's the
00:02:55.490 00:02:55.500 Feingold variant I told you this was
00:02:58.100 00:02:58.110 confusing the premium grade category
00:03:00.229 00:03:00.239 includes just the UK Z series which is
00:03:02.960 00:03:02.970 rated for the typical negative 40 to 85
00:03:05.420 00:03:05.430 degrees Celsius and not the higher 105
00:03:08.870 00:03:08.880 degree rating last in the miniature
00:03:11.030 00:03:11.040 audio line is the bi polarized category
00:03:13.610 00:03:13.620 which includes the u DB and ue s by
00:03:17.509 00:03:17.519 polarized electrolitic s-- are often
00:03:19.970 00:03:19.980 used in speaker crossovers and
00:03:22.120 00:03:22.130 nishikawa's the u DB series is
00:03:24.550 00:03:24.560 specifically designed for that purpose
00:03:26.680 00:03:26.690 note though that nishikawa's flagged the
00:03:30.140 00:03:30.150 u DB series as having values which are
00:03:33.140 00:03:33.150 scheduled to be discontinued they're
00:03:35.479 00:03:35.489 also very expensive indicating that they
00:03:37.970 00:03:37.980 may be harder to find as they're going
00:03:40.220 00:03:40.230 out of stock perhaps that's why Nisha
00:03:43.009 00:03:43.019 Khan also offers the by polarised ue s
00:03:46.039 00:03:46.049 series which is part of their muse line
00:03:48.530 00:03:48.540 Nisha con says the standard grade caps
00:03:51.110 00:03:51.120 are for quote general audio equipment
00:03:53.509 00:03:53.519 the high-grade caps feature quote
00:03:55.550 00:03:55.560 selected materials for superior rich
00:03:58.610 00:03:58.620 clearer sound and the premium grade are
00:04:01.789 00:04:01.799 quote ideally suited for first-class
00:04:04.490 00:04:04.500 audio but what if any differences exist
00:04:07.789 00:04:07.799 between the standard high and premium
00:04:10.520 00:04:10.530 grades the only spec that could possibly
00:04:13.729 00:04:13.739 make a difference in sound quality is
00:04:15.770 00:04:15.780 tangent of loss it tells us how much of
00:04:18.890 00:04:18.900 a capacitors charge is lost to heat a
00:04:22.039 00:04:22.049 tangent of 0.1 means it will have 10%
00:04:24.680 00:04:24.690 loss obviously the lower the number
00:04:27.800 00:04:27.810 the better tangent of loss is useful
00:04:30.290 00:04:30.300 because it shows the overall efficiency
00:04:32.810 00:04:32.820 of the capacitor from the combined
00:04:34.820 00:04:34.830 effects of impedance leakage and ESR
00:04:38.300 00:04:38.310 within the small category standard
00:04:40.940 00:04:40.950 grades are only available but loss wise
00:04:43.520 00:04:43.530 they perform admirably compared to their
00:04:46.070 00:04:46.080 larger cousins
00:04:47.300 00:04:47.310 there's just 12% loss for the UFW and an
00:04:50.750 00:04:50.760 even lower 10% for the u.s. W's and
00:04:53.650 00:04:53.660 UMW's for the 105 sea caps there are no
00:04:57.230 00:04:57.240 differences in loss between these
00:04:59.000 00:04:59.010 standard and high grade caps both have
00:05:01.940 00:05:01.950 14% loss for the a/v caps the higher
00:05:05.270 00:05:05.280 grade you fgs do have less loss at 10
00:05:08.000 00:05:08.010 percent compared to the standard grade
00:05:10.070 00:05:10.080 UK w's at 12
00:05:11.780 00:05:11.790 as expected you'll have to pay more for
00:05:13.700 00:05:13.710 the improvement the premium UK z series
00:05:16.219 00:05:16.229 has a premium price but does it offer
00:05:18.650 00:05:18.660 premium performance it appears so as it
00:05:21.860 00:05:21.870 has the lowest loss of all the
00:05:23.450 00:05:23.460 miniatures at just 8% is it worth
00:05:26.030 00:05:26.040 spending more for this better
00:05:27.350 00:05:27.360 performance that I can't tell you but I
00:05:30.200 00:05:30.210 do suspect that even the most golden
00:05:32.360 00:05:32.370 eared among us would have a hard time
00:05:34.310 00:05:34.320 hearing the difference between an 8%
00:05:37.070 00:05:37.080 lost capacitor and one with 12% still
00:05:40.400 00:05:40.410 when repairing top-of-the-line equipment
00:05:42.440 00:05:42.450 even skeptical me might decide to
00:05:45.200 00:05:45.210 splurge just to have that extra peace of
00:05:47.480 00:05:47.490 mind looking at the by polarized
00:05:49.670 00:05:49.680 miniatures the U DB series first appears
00:05:52.460 00:05:52.470 to have lower loss at 10% compared to
00:05:55.190 00:05:55.200 the you ESS at 12 but look closely and
00:05:58.760 00:05:58.770 you'll find they've been measured at
00:06:00.620 00:06:00.630 different frequencies so I'm not sure
00:06:02.900 00:06:02.910 it's an apples to apples comparison and
00:06:05.240 00:06:05.250 again just look at the price difference
00:06:07.400 00:06:07.410 I'd say for nishikawa's buy polarized
00:06:09.740 00:06:09.750 audio line stick with the UE s's unless
00:06:12.469 00:06:12.479 you can get the UD bees for a good price
00:06:14.450 00:06:14.460 I compared Nishikawa audio series
00:06:16.940 00:06:16.950 miniatures to their general-purpose
00:06:18.890 00:06:18.900 counterparts and found that for the most
00:06:21.740 00:06:21.750 part the audio series offers a similar
00:06:24.409 00:06:24.419 value the exception I found though was
00:06:26.360 00:06:26.370 again with the 105 C rated caps as you
00:06:29.659 00:06:29.669 can see the non audio general-purpose
00:06:31.969 00:06:31.979 uvz series not only up performs the UK
00:06:35.719 00:06:35.729 T's and UK A's but they're also cheaper
00:06:38.930 00:06:38.940 at least the UK a series does appear to
00:06:41.450 00:06:41.460 have a higher endurance rating than the
00:06:43.730 00:06:43.740 general-purpose UV Z's which is measured
00:06:46.100 00:06:46.110 at 2,000 hours instead of 1,000 but I
00:06:49.129 00:06:49.139 just don't see any reason to get the UK
00:06:51.439 00:06:51.449 T series when the standard grade UV Z's
00:06:54.230 00:06:54.240 offer the same performance at a much
00:06:56.480 00:06:56.490 better price
00:06:57.469 00:06:57.479 moving on to nishikawa's large audio
00:06:59.870 00:06:59.880 electrolitic s-- I've broken them down
00:07:01.850 00:07:01.860 into four categories high voltage high
00:07:05.360 00:07:05.370 grade higher grade and highest grade all
00:07:08.990 00:07:09.000 have components rated under 100 volts
00:07:11.360 00:07:11.370 except the lkx which has caps rated from
00:07:14.839 00:07:14.849 200 to 450 volts they're all snap in
00:07:18.350 00:07:18.360 style which is suitable for PC boards
00:07:20.540 00:07:20.550 the lkg series are also available with
00:07:23.779 00:07:23.789 solder looks as an option although more
00:07:26.749 00:07:26.759 capacitance and voltage values are
00:07:28.939 00:07:28.949 available as snap-ins the LKG series
00:07:31.999 00:07:32.009 comes in three grades type 1 type 2 and
00:07:35.060 00:07:35.070 type 3 within the high voltage category
00:07:38.120 00:07:38.130 there's only one grade the al KX these
00:07:41.600 00:07:41.610 have the lowest loss compared to the
00:07:43.580 00:07:43.590 other large caps but it's not useful to
00:07:46.279 00:07:46.289 compare the lkx series against the
00:07:48.320 00:07:48.330 others as they're really a different
00:07:50.270 00:07:50.280 type suited for much higher voltages
00:07:52.520 00:07:52.530 looking at the high and higher grade
00:07:54.980 00:07:54.990 large audio caps we see that they all
00:07:57.589 00:07:57.599 have similar performance at 25% loss
00:08:00.850 00:08:00.860 unless you need solder lugs I would
00:08:03.649 00:08:03.659 forget Nishikawa marketing claims that
00:08:05.629 00:08:05.639 the higher grade sound better and just
00:08:08.450 00:08:08.460 get the cheapest among them that you can
00:08:10.249 00:08:10.259 find based on Mouser pricing it appears
00:08:12.890 00:08:12.900 that the lks series will be your best
00:08:15.140 00:08:15.150 bet there if you prefer solder lugs over
00:08:17.659 00:08:17.669 snapping though you'll need to go with
00:08:19.550 00:08:19.560 the LK geez looking at the highest grade
00:08:22.100 00:08:22.110 LKG type 3 we see that it does have
00:08:25.219 00:08:25.229 better performance than types 1 & 2 as
00:08:28.100 00:08:28.110 well as the l KS 20% loss versus 25 it
00:08:33.019 00:08:33.029 comes at a premium price though so
00:08:34.850 00:08:34.860 you'll have to decide if it's worth it
00:08:37.040 00:08:37.050 as I said about the higher performing
00:08:39.589 00:08:39.599 miniatures I suspect that it would be
00:08:42.050 00:08:42.060 difficult to hear the difference between
00:08:43.790 00:08:43.800 8 5 percent margin of loss but when
00:08:46.579 00:08:46.589 repairing top-of-the-line equipment I
00:08:48.440 00:08:48.450 still might splurge on the type threes
00:08:50.660 00:08:50.670 to have that peace of mind or would I
00:08:55.070 00:08:55.080 digging deeper we find that Nishikawa
00:08:57.410 00:08:57.420 general-purpose LLS series offers the
00:09:00.470 00:09:00.480 same 20% loss but is much cheaper in
00:09:03.829 00:09:03.839 fact it's even cheaper than the types 1
00:09:06.199 00:09:06.209 & 2 and lks with better performance at
00:09:09.350 00:09:09.360 just 20% loss compared to 25 granted the
00:09:14.120 00:09:14.130 general-purpose ll S series are only
00:09:16.819 00:09:16.829 available and snapping so if you really
00:09:19.790 00:09:19.800 want solder lugs it might be worth
00:09:21.769 00:09:21.779 spending more for the LK G's otherwise I
00:09:24.860 00:09:24.870 don't see the advantage what do you have
00:09:27.620 00:09:27.630 to say about that in issue con well
00:09:29.540 00:09:29.550 their marketing department says that
00:09:31.340 00:09:31.350 their audio capacitors are quote
00:09:33.350 00:09:33.360 designed to give premium sound quality
00:09:35.870 00:09:35.880 when compared to general-purpose
00:09:37.670 00:09:37.680 capacitors and that their quote ideally
00:09:41.120 00:09:41.130 suited for first-class audio equipment
00:09:43.850 00:09:43.860 where qualitative and quantitative
00:09:46.509 00:09:46.519 characteristics are required I couldn't
00:09:49.430 00:09:49.440 agree more quantitative characteristics
00:09:52.190 00:09:52.200 are required and you can't make
00:09:54.620 00:09:54.630 qualitative claims without them in the
00:09:57.949 00:09:57.959 case of their large can capacitors
00:10:00.319 00:10:00.329 though neasha cons audio caps simply
00:10:03.530 00:10:03.540 don't seem to have any quantitative
00:10:06.139 00:10:06.149 measurements to back up their
00:10:08.199 00:10:08.209 qualitative claims of course this is
00:10:11.000 00:10:11.010 nothing new in the audio industry we're
00:10:13.160 00:10:13.170 making claims that better sound can be
00:10:15.680 00:10:15.690 achieved through means that can't be
00:10:17.630 00:10:17.640 measured is de rigueur I'm of the
00:10:20.360 00:10:20.370 opinion though that if it can't be
00:10:22.370 00:10:22.380 measured it can't be heard just using
00:10:25.910 00:10:25.920 exotic or expensive materials can't
00:10:28.790 00:10:28.800 magically make something sound better so
00:10:31.370 00:10:31.380 don't buy an Ishikawa capacitor because
00:10:33.829 00:10:33.839 nisha Conn says it sounds better buy an
00:10:36.949 00:10:36.959 Ishikawa cap because it provides the
00:10:39.139 00:10:39.149 performance you're looking for at a
00:10:40.910 00:10:40.920 price you're willing to spend that of
00:10:43.699 00:10:43.709 course goes for any manufacturer
00:10:45.680 00:10:45.690 sometimes the audio labelled cap will be
00:10:48.230 00:10:48.240 the better choice and sometimes the
00:10:50.569 00:10:50.579 general purpose cap will be better just
00:10:52.639 00:10:52.649 do your homework to make that a little
00:10:55.189 00:10:55.199 easier I'll leave you now with some
00:10:57.160 00:10:57.170 uninterrupted video of the spreadsheets
00:10:59.600 00:10:59.610 I made to give you a chance to grab some
00:11:01.970 00:11:01.980 screenshots if you're interested to stay
00:11:04.610 00:11:04.620 updated about my new videos please
00:11:06.920 00:11:06.930 subscribe and click
00:11:08.170 00:11:08.180 Bell and if you liked this video give it
00:11:10.750 00:11:10.760 a thumbs up I'll see you soon
00:11:20.519 00:11:20.529 you

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