ProtoDAC TDA1387 X8 project

[hifinet]

Thanks Tim for your help.

The power supply decoupling caps affect primarily dynamics and soundstage. I have listened to quite a few including audio grade from Nichicon, Elna and Audio Note. I prefer the Panasonic FR-A with ESR of 41 mOhm. Fortunately, these are very inexpensive caps.

The DC blocking film caps affect overall clarity and transparency. I chose the WIMA MKP 4 (HHHiFi score 7-) to keep the cost of the kit reasonable. They are NOS and leads are not steel. I bought them for a good price. They are good enough to give the listener a good idea of the capabilities of the DAC. They don't have any annoying properties to the sound, and they are pleasant, but certainly not the best in terms of transparency. ProtoDAC with the WIMA has compared favorably to much more expensive DACs.

Audio film caps can get expensive very quickly. I personally cannot afford boutique caps in my DIY stuff, and I haven't listened to any. As posted earlier, polycarbonate (MKC) are generally better than polypropylene (MKP), and more affordable than modern MKP audiophile caps. The kits will come with Chinese Audiophiler MKP (HHHiFi score 7) when I run out of the WIMA.

I should mention that if you can verify that the next component in your system (for example, preamp) has input DC blocking capacitors (rated > 2VDC), you don't need the output coupling caps. You can substitute a wire.