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Blind capacitor test at Ae-Europe open day. All 0,47uF

Posted by Bas Horneman (A) on November 20, 2007 at 13:02:17

It was very interesting listening to capacitors blind. I actually think it is easier to listen blind than sighted. Because knowing a thing or two about a cap can colour one's perception I think it is safe to assume. And I would never have dared to post my impressions here if I had known which were which for some reason.

Anyway we listened to the caps shown in the picture. But the enclosure was "sealed" so we could not see which were which.

I got into the room when the people listening were constantly switching between cap 2 and 4.

Obviously without knowing which was which I found them to be pretty close in sound and pretty good in a "hifi" sense...but both had something intangible which I will call..irritating or strident. They turned out to be 2)Aura Teflon and 4)Claritycap. They then switched to 1) and I liked that one very much straight away. Very natural and open. No gut-feeling irritation.
Then they switched to 3) It struck me how 1) and 3) sounded similar as 2) and 4) had sounded similar to each other (although 1) and 3) in a good way and 2) and 4) in a negative way (without being bad ofcourse) 3) was close to 1) but I preferred 1). 3) was also natural without "bothering" me.

1) turned out to be Audio Note copper foil and 3) was Mündorf silver in oil.

Then we got to listen to 5). And 5) struck me as in between 1and3 and the 2and4 caps in the naturalness department. Not as irritating as 2and4 but not as natural as 1and3. But 2 and 4 were a little more impressive all other departments. So I thought..this is probably a good midrange cap a true workhorse so to speak. Nothing bad but nothing brilliant (This turned out to be Auricap).

Then we listened to 6). Which I listened to very briefly...because I disregarded the cap almost out of hand because of the sloppy bass. Although I have to admit it sounded natural from the mids on upward. (So my impression of six is the least accurate because of the little time I spent listening) 6 was the k40 russian pio.

I don't know if they all had the same burn-in time. I can't really comment on the soundstage etc. as the listening period was too short and I was not familiar with any of the recordings.

I think I could have summarized this post by saying that for me and my tastes the Audio Note was the clear winner.

YMMV IMO etc. etc.

Below is the order they were in the switching box.
1.) Audio Note copper foil pio.
2.) Aura Teflon cap.
3.) Mondorf Silver/oil.
4.) Claritycap.
5.) Auricap.
6.) Russische K40-Y pio
To infinity and beyond!!!

Edits: 11/20/07 11/20/07 11/20/07 11/21/07 11/21/07

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