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RE: What I said also

Posted by Duster (M) on August 3, 2018 at 15:14:49

In Reply to: RE: What I said also posted by Lew on August 2, 2018 at 08:45:27:

Therein lies the rub, Lew. When there is no clear reason to go against the idea of, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", it's a gamble to keep soldering and un-soldering electronic parts on a circuit board. I believe the improved performance already accomplished via the upgrade from the Panasonic FC to the Nichicon FW regardless of the voltage rating is profound enough to leave well enough alone, at this point.

Another thing to mention is that this is the second of the same make/model audio component I've worked with, and the manufacturer actually changed the two stock 16V Panasonic FC capacitors to 10V Panasonic FC capacitors, which is in line with the notion of being a better option for a +/-9V application. In comparison with the first unit that featured the original 16V caps, the unit with 10V caps sounded rather dull and less dynamic with weaker performance at the frequency extremes, and a more restricted soundstage presentation. The 16V caps while sounding more euphonic, were more musical in nature, with a bigger bottom-end vs. the 10V caps. The impression was that the 10V caps sounded "cheaper" in terms of performance from a subjective POV than the more full-bodied 16V caps. Upgrading the 10V Panasonic FC capacitors with the 50V Nichicon FW capacitors provided the same improvements for the second unit as it did for the first unit.

I'm concerned that while it might be be more correct to choose the 16V Nichicon FW vs. the 50V Nichicon FW, I'm not convinced that I should expect the 16V Nichicon FW to actually sound better for the particular device simply based on a concept that is not widely known to be an audiophile rule that should always be followed. It could be possible that my hunch to choose the 50V Nichicon FW might simply sound better to my ear for the application. In this specific case, I don't wish to be an experimenter when the final results are not clearly predictable.

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