What Does "Audio Grade" Mean?

[@thedoofguy5707]

"The days of low-end motherboards' on-board audio making, like, screeching noises when you move your mouse around are, thankfully, long gone." Seems like Acer didn't get that message, probably because it was drowned out by the screeching their laptop motherboards make when you move the mouse around.

[@Choosiik]

i still have that on my assrock motherboard *sad screetch noise*

[@okdoomer620]

My gigabyte mainboard from 2017 also makes screeching noises coupled to graphics

[@altairfoo1920]

Well... my XPS 15 9570 power supply can make the whole circuit go crazy while I move my mouse or doing other tasks. "go crazy" means my desktop power supply on the same circuit makes the screeching sound.

[@maxfuchs7995]

lower end gigabyte boards make these noises too, thats why i switched mine against an aorus pro ^^

[@burgersnchips]

Is this with headphones or speakers?

[@Shadow-ig3hf]

So when Linus builds up too much capacitance he discharges it by dropping things?

[@hieuniverse]

You deserve spicy chili pepper 🌶

[@secretwebsite]

Nice! Finally revealed the cause of Linus dropping things.

[@naqiongtradingllpnaqiongtr8035]

Can you Cut open the Mundorf Silver Gold Cap to view the inside can ? Is it real Pure Silver Foil or basically just a Fake Foil ? Video have ! ( Surely u will have Billion of Billion of Viewer in your KZbin).................Cut it now Mundorf Silver Gold Cap..................!!!!

[@christianhattge]

Therapist: Emo cat Linus isn't real, it can't hurt you Emo cat Linus: 3:22

[@1emerican]

I want more Emo Rave Cat Linus.

[@pp3v42_g3h]

Emerica Here you go, watch?v=JI2vcvhhVb4

[@ichiyamamoto785]

Best emo cat Linus is the one with the Pillow Yoko Cameo.

[@PassiveDissimulation]

Emo cat Linus is great, he has all the best rawr stickers.

[@naqiongtradingllpnaqiongtr8035]

Can you Cut open the Mundorf Silver Gold Cap to view the inside can ? Is it real Pure Silver Foil or basically just a Fake Foil ? Video have ! ( Surely u will have Billion of Billion of Viewer in your KZbin).................Cut it now Mundorf Silver Gold Cap................,,

[@PHamster]

I can hear ElectroBoom or EEVBlog claiming BS for "Audio Grade" capacitors

[@Porama6400]

Well, it IS actually a BS. There's no difference between "Audio Grade" and the normal one It's just simply normal low-ESR cap

[@TheFrenchMansControl]

Exactly. This is complete and utter bullshit. Old computers used to leak noise because their power supplies weren't properly isolated from the audio amplifiers, something a suitably large cap can mostly avoid to smooth the rails.

[@PHamster]

Porama6400 I’m going to make a new electrolytic cap and put RGB lights around it and call it the Gamer Cap! It’ll smooth out the FPS!

[@janis.berzins]

EEVBlog has been saying that for last 10 years, it's insane that people trust all that marketing crap that companies push down their throats. EEVblog #29 - Audiophile Audiophoolery

[@wsippel]

Dave very much believes in quality caps (Nichicon, Nippon Chemicon, Rubycon, Panasonic, ELNA, WIMA), but it's probably easy to argue that basically their entire lineups are "audio grade".

[@ao_qd]

OMG, that mouse buzz used to drive me nuts. I thought I was going crazy!

[@luis27mss]

Hey how's it going Quan its Luis from 15 years ago.

[@fghsgh]

I use GTX graphics but motherboard sound and strangely, I can hear the frame rate. For example, if it's running at 200 fps, I can hear a 200 Hz hum.

[@ao_qd]

@@luis27mss OMG!!! HAHAHAHA. LUIS! Hello!

[@ao_qd]

@@fghsgh LMAO, I think that's a feature!

[@fghsgh]

@@ao_qd It eventually drives you insane though. You can't turn it off.

[@alexhaywood3139]

You guys really need to get an electronic engineer to proof read your scripts, this is not very accurate

[@pierreuntel1970]

this vid is so cringy, especially the part of caps leads made of steel

[@MsAsssde]

@@pierreuntel1970 The man of copper...... becasue it's better...

[@pierreuntel1970]

@Chris Russell really? I mean... yeah, it's kinda right when I think about it because some leads do tends to rust... but I don't think its steel at first because it's very hard to wet steel with solder

[@MrDannydjmix2]

its all accurate tho, its magnetic iron tinned not steel on some low grade components since iron is so cheap compared to copper, and yes it matters in some cases where lowest resistance as possible is required like audio applications for example! its easy to google ``material's conductivity`` and see copper is more then twice more conductive then iron(magnetic) contracts, also ask an electrical engineer and see what they say about ``contact resistance``

[@divcurl6044]

@@reeeeeeee2143 Most 'audio grade' capacitors you will find on a motherboard or sound card will be electrolytic.

[@guessit5036]

"The days of low-end motherboards' on-board audio making, like, screeching noises, as you move your mouse around are, thankfully, long gone." Front panel audio ports: Allow us to introduce ourselves!

[@danielrouw2593]

I imagine wrapping some shielding on the cable should fix that. Still won't fix the dirty power ripples caused by usb and pcie devices.

[@guessit5036]

@@danielrouw2593 I tried it, but the problem not in cable, but the connection between device and port. The only cure to this is either soldering capacitors or connecting an audio device straight to the motherboard.

[@CIubDuck]

Front panel audio ports in 2019

[@MrFahrenheit2k]

That's not a motherboard issue, tho. It's the case and its wires.

[@guessit5036]

@@MrFahrenheit2k You clearly missed the joke.

[@CatFishKick]

Usually find these videos easy to comprehend as they’re broken down really well but I feel you glossed over the technical operation

[@CatFishKick]

Snwoabla lol

[@PixelSchnitzel]

That's because he doesn't have a clue himself. He's just re-spewing a sponsor's marketing slobber.

[@burgersnchips]

As an electronics graduate, I can tell you I've never heard so much bullshit in an LTT video. The quality of the capacitors only needs to above the absolute minimum to avoid excessive leakage and excessive internal resistance, but ultimately this is why the large electrolytic capacitors are often paired with smaller non-polarised capacitors capable of smoothing higher frequency noise due to their lower impedence at high frequency. The quality of the product has a LOT more to do with the design of the circuitry than the exact properties of the capacitors. It's "gold connectors on jack leads" again. Unfortunately, Linus (and team) has taken advice from a company who stands to benefit from this kind of nonsense being common knowledge.

[@rolerroleris533]

Well the quality of the product depends on how good it's components are, so...

[@DJJeroen1000]

Indeed. A good electrical engineer can make far better things with 'normal' components than a beginner with 'special' capacitors. Tip: don't use bulk capacitors to smoothen out your supply for an audio circuit. Design the supply differently so it doesn't produce so much shit.. you can throw as many capacitors at it as you want but eventually a better circuit design always wins

[@grahamlord86]

Agreeeed... Lot of talk about construction, absolutely no mention of ESR, which is what you really want to look for with audio caps. Most 'audio grade' caps are just low ESR and nothing more. Remember kids, if a company doesn't want to share their 'secret ingredient', it's because there is no secret ingredient. Your competitors will reverse engineer you stuff anyway.

[@richardk2n]

Whenever Linus talks about anything that isn't a computer it's bullshit.

[@sirabdude14]

I will readily admit that I am not an expert audiophile, but what knowledge I do have comes from my father who decidedly IS an expert audiophile What you say is absolutely true. Any "decent" quality cap should sound the same as any other to the human ear. EVEN IF there was a measurable difference, there's no way you could hear it - anyone who says otherwise falls into the "I buy $1000 RCA cables" camp of snake-oil and placebo. I have seen oodles of my father's DIY amps and many more from serious audio brands like Cavalli (RIP) and I almost NEVER see them use these overpriced caps.

[@GervasitorSpaceman67]

"The days of low-end motherboards' on-board audio making, like, screeching noises when you move your mouse around are, thankfully, long gone." The 6 month old Dell CAD workstation I have at work would like to disagree. Glad to see I'm not alone in this. Stay strong guys.

[@kyleslater5245]

Lol that’s not low end motherboard... that’s oem proprietor... something totally different and often worse.

[@mohammedbashraheel7703]

I almost threw xps 13 in trash because of that noise 🤯

[@bcg407]

Have a 6 month old Dell Latitude that does the same damn thing. I thought I was crazy

[@Failsy1]

My Gigabyte Z-170X Gaming-3 motherboard also gave me electronic noise on my Sennheiser HD 280 Pros. I had to get a DAC to get rid of it.

[@alexandrecouture2462]

My 2005 PowerMac G5 didn't had any of this noise, but every other computer I owned had a lot of these

[@windhelmguard5295]

my favourite property of electrolytic capacitors is that they are polarized and will explode if you give them backwards polarity.

[@yasdja4444]

😂😂😂 why would you do that !?

[@daanwilmer]

@@yasdja4444 For shits and/or giggles.

[@christhirion9474]

The new ones just go poof 😥

[@windhelmguard5295]

@@yasdja4444 because my high school teachers actually knew how a teenage boy thinks. they knew that telling us: "don't do that" wouldn't work so they showed us what happens when you do "that" i also grew up in what used to be east germany where they still had electolytic capacitors lying around that where as thick as my thumb and those made a huge ass boom when they went off.

[@windhelmguard5295]

@@funnyarc nope. my teacher was way too old to be electro boom. he also didn't speak a word of english since he learned russian as his second language for obvious reasons.

[@markoantesic4362]

This video has so many mistakes/oversimplifications. At 2:00 electrolytic does not have to be audio grade. At 2:25 the impedance does drop BUT for power supplies the main problem is parasitic parallel inductance and parasitic parallel resistances, together names ESR. Large capacitance is more important for low frequency ripple (eg. bass) at higher frequency (mouse screeching) ESR and parasitic inductance and inductive coupling is to blame not lack of capacitance. At 3.08 leads are never made of steel, lol, no. The "steel" colour is tin plated copper. Also thru hole capacitors are almost never used on PC, especially not on MOBO where the "audio grade" would be. They are more and more SMD.

[@ommsterlitz1805]

And with that do you have some advice and brand to get a very good audio quality because that what really matters in the end

[@shurmurray]

This comment should be at the top! I think the number of mistakes is unacceptable. Made an epic facepalm when he told about steel leads...

[@potatotr33]

And rarely do companies develop their own cap's. they're branded parts made to spec. The engineering spec for most of them is just .1 or .01% tolerances. LTT you really should check with independent electrical engineers who design these products while they're not on the clock or have investment in this. You can't ask a company that makes audio products to help you explain "audio grade capacitors" when you should have hooked up wit EEV or NWAVguy and explained the actual properties and not just oversimplify why audio companies use low tolerance electrolytic caps. I'm embarrassed for how this video turned out for you, you guys usually give really good simplifications that stay true to the concepts but this video screams that you didn't do your research and didn't vet the video with an independent professional who didn't source you the information.

[@markoantesic4362]

@Tong Zou Or GOOOLLLDDDEEEEEEEE!!!!

[@markoantesic4362]

@@ommsterlitz1805 I would say that the engineer that builds the audio equipment is 1000X more important then the brand of capacitor used.

[@thexgamer8240]

Audio grade means audio in different grades, for example: 1st grade audio, 2nd audio, 12th grade audio,... until it gets to university.

[@jasongooden917]

then you become a pro

[@katrinabryce]

In the UK, it is grades 1 to 8, then diploma.

[@EddieKMusic]

Katrina Bryce Amazing

[@nickmack7282]

that cracked me up

[@bassam_salim]

@@katrinabryce you don't have secondary school?!

[@mattkerper8011]

Tolerance is also an issue that should have been touched on. Many caps can be +/- 10+% but audio ones are usually +/- 1-5%

[@ryanjofre]

I concur 100% as audio/computer fanatic & capacitor nerd. This should be a multi part video. You can’t talk about capacitors whether “lytics” or film caps without talking about tolerance!!!

[@AlsanPine]

also the higher end panasonic caps. i use elna for most but they do not have them in some specs. the electrolytic cap difference is, however, secondary to eliminating the ceramic caps which are a huge noise source as well as all the composite resistors which are also noisy as hell. when i rebuild my gear, i put in 1% film resistors and film capacitors for these. your gear will produce sound that you have not heard because it will no longer have to fight itself because of the noisy components. the elna's then will further sweeten the sound. you will find that you do not have to raise your volume as loud to hear the music because your system is more efficient. invest in a $300 rework station with a de-soldering gun and do it yourself. it is actually very easy if tedious and time consuming project. cheers 🙂

[@mikgus]

"Audio Grade" is what you mark your capacitors with when you want to sell them for hundred times their true value.

[@Oystein87]

Wrong.. Your comment shows lack of knowlage. There are actually HUGE differences in capacitors. And some are designed to perform better for pure audio use.

[@rh_BOSS]

​@@Oystein87 But these differences will never translate into a discernible difference in the overall sound of the system.

[@Oystein87]

@@rh_BOSS Yes they can if every link in the chain from start to end is good enough.

[@rh_BOSS]

​@@Oystein87 Yes, if we are talking about the kind of difference like the one between cheap and "audio-grade" cables or pristine and burnt-in headphones.

[@Oystein87]

@@rh_BOSS Uhm.. There are differences between cables. I have tries several times in a blind test and can hear differences. Same with capacitors. I tried it in a blind test and there are quite a bit difference. Cables and capacitors are like a little "filter" when it comes to audio. But that does not mean a really expencive cable or capacitor is worth the money though. There is a sweet spot in price and performance. And there also are differences in headphones and speakers when burnt in. Speakers are moving parts and they are stiffer when unused than when they are used for awhile. My speakers gradualy got better bass after playing at a decent volume for several hours. That has also been proven so I think you should get some knowlage in the field. But offcourse if you have bad hearing or crap speakers, amps etc it would not matter anyway.

[@AustinSteingrube]

Electrical engineer here: That was painful. You should really stick to videos on things you personally know about. Reading a script someone else wrote that is so generalized it is basically wrong is not the way to go. Can you buy junk caps? Yes. Are there nicer ones? Yes. Are electrolytic caps “audio caps”? No. Are ceramic and poly caps used in audio circuits? More than electrolytics. Will nicer caps reduce hum and improve your sound? NO. It’s all about the design. Hum results from poor audio circuit design.

[@divcurl6044]

By the way, respect to electrical engineers, but, working on power systems isn't the same as working on audio surely? Several orders of magnitude different problems?

[@AustinSteingrube]

@@divcurl6044 Not really. For one, electrical engineers are the ones that design audio circuitry as well; just like there are a hundred different kinds of doctors with different specialties, there are different specialties of electrical engineering. When it comes to circuit design, the parts we use are scaled up for high power, but the electrical concepts are identical between all disciplines. Capacitors, inductors, and resistors all work the same whether you are passing milliamps through them or killiamps.

[@divcurl6044]

@@AustinSteingrube Yes, I agree, but you would also have to agree that one medical specialist wouldn't understand the depth and subtleties of another's discipline, although both may understand the general principles. See, although a capacitor may work the same on a gross level, in terms of distortion, say, two components might be very different. I would propose the difference between four vehicles; a workaday van, a car yourself or you wife might drive, and one an enthusiast would spend serious money on, like a Lamborghini Huracan. All have four wheels, windows, etc. but the Lamborghini is about something other than blunt functionality and fuel economy. The Lamborghini may have titanium and carbon components, which, when compared to a normal useage case just seem like expensive BS. But they aren't, they are important to the user of that vehicle. And, you must admit, that although electrolytic caps aren't exclusive to audio, out of all types of capacitor, they are the most problematic. Therefore, they tend to get the most attention. And, most consumer audio will use such components not just in the PSU, but also for coupling, due to size and cost limitations. Overall, it seems this vid was about what makes an audio grade capacitor different to a vanilla one, rather than to go into depth about physics and electronics. There is a different audience and platform for that I think.

[@AustinSteingrube]

@@divcurl6044 You are still missing the point. Electrical engineering does not change because you are working on one type of circuit versus another. The medical analogy was meant to convey that electrical engineers do a wide variety of things (as opposed to just power as you suggested), not that we are so hyper specialized that we cannot or do not understand another specialty. You can take an EE that worked in a company that makes medical devices and drop him straight into a company that makes guitar effects pedals and he/she will be right at home. Someone that does power electronics could just as easily work on embedded systems. While there are minor differences on what is important, the basis for everything is so universal that there is very, VERY little that doesn't cross over. With the exception of some very niche fields, all circuits work exactly the same and are used in nearly all types of electrical engineering. Bypass caps? Used in literally every device. Constant current sources? Used in audio filtering, amplification, and power management. Op amps? Use in anything more advanced than a toaster. RLC networks? Again, in pretty much everything. The equations don't change and neither do the components. It is LITERALLY like legos - once you figure out how they snap together, you just connect them up. To reiterate, there is no such thing as an "audio grade capacitor". There is no need to go into depth about the physics because it is all junk marketing. You can have the greatest capacitors ever made, but if you do a junk job on your design, they aren't going to be worth scrap. I recently worked on my guitar amplifier to nearly eliminate hum - want to know how I fixed it? With copper tape for EMI shielding and a ferrite core bead around the power input. No caps were used. How did I know this would work? Because the principles of electrical engineering don't change and I understood the system.

[@bradleythatcher2869]

“I get you Chinese capacitors at half price” -Lyle

[@naqiongtradingllpnaqiongtr8035]

Can you Cut open the Mundorf Silver Gold Cap to view the inside can ? Is it real Pure Silver Foil or basically just a Fake Foil ? Video have ! ( Surely u will have Billion of Billion of Viewer in your KZbin).................Cut it now Mundorf Silver Gold Cap.........////

[@thomasward00]

Many Chinese and Taiwanese caps are just as good these days and even many Japanese brands aren't made in Japan anymore, many are made in Malaysia.

[@timramich]

Audio grade in the area of capacitors just means a low ESR. Nothing will determine sound coloring other than capacitance, resistance/impedance, and inductance.

[@crocosnz3322]

Thank you! Basically was going to post this if someone else didn't. So much misinformation in this video.

[@kennmossman8701]

And to a lessor degree temperature drift and long term stability esp when used in LP, HP, BP, and DC blocking

[@MetalMasterdom]

Not exactly. It's not just about low ESR. It's more about low dissipation factor(tan delta). Just having a low ESR does not a good audio capacitor make. Everything else he mentioned about the electrolyte and dielectric materials matters too. Which is why you won't find any "low ESR" solid caps that are "audio grade".

[@kennmossman8701]

@@MetalMasterdomtan delta = ESR / |Xc| so?

[@MetalMasterdom]

@@kennmossman8701 Exactly. So...if you think you've proved some point to me...go ahead and think that. It isn't the case. But whatever.

[@henrylee8366]

As a EE student, most of the explaining is not quite accurate but easy to understand for normal people.

[@godzilla12332]

What's inaccurate about it. Id like to be as well informed on the topic as I can be

[@shurmurray]

Mistakes already pointed in some other comments. Some of them (there is more): ordinary capacitors with steel wires (BS, wires are made of plated copper even on cheapest), electrolyte is exclusive to "audio grade" capacitors (BS - with electrolyte on without - defines the type of capacitor and has nothing to do with audio); using electrolyte increases capacitor's response to rapidly changing signal (BS - electrolytic capacitors have significant limitations because of using electrolyte in terms of internal resistance/ESR. And due to this they usually paired with some non-electrolytic capacitors to achieve good overall performance). This boils down to design of a circuit, not the "audio-grade" and gold color.

[@bestbattle]

I'm no EE guy but I always thought that "audio grade caps" mean low ESR...

[@MaxusR]

Ask an audiophile about capacitors and this is what you'll get.

[@henrylee8366]

Some parts are physically better than others, but using "audio grade" is such a dumb idea. Also, the reason why these higher grade part is better is rarely things mentioned in the video. But I believe for a good reason, which is Linus doesn't quite understand electrical engineering himself. His team make tons of great videos, but this isn't one.

[@NSNorfolk]

I'm an Electrical Engineer and also, because I enjoy driving at all hours of the day and night, am a Broadcast Engineer, SBE and IEEE member, etc.... I have 3 Harris MW-5's and 1 MW-50 along with some newer FM's 20-35KW under my charge. WE use Nichicon UFG series caps in the Audio Chain and Panasonic's in other applications. Made an audible difference on FM (if you listened closely). Then Gates broadcast states that general purpose electrolytic have a service life of around 8 years. Now, that's in 24 X 7 use and in warm - hot environments. We rebuilt the 38 year old MW-5's around 5 years ago and the MW-50, about 4 years ago. The only off air time thus far has been the 37 year old MW-50, which ate a 4CX35000 PA tube a couple years ago.

[@heimvar]

Man when i was building my tower speakers and it came to building my high/low pass filters i didn't know the difference between caps and wow it made a fair bit of difference when really pushing the woofers.

[@ianmahaney5140]

Capacitors themselves do not simply "lower" the impedance of a system, but rather counter the inductance of a system which can come from the inherent length of an audio cable or the speaker driver size/type. The electrical noise mentioned is because of possible coupling of the AC audio signals into the DC power input of a digital audio IC. A decoupling capacitor is then used to "smooth out" the power input signal. This capacitor also counters the inductance of the traces/wiring just on the PCB. Basically, if the decoupling capacitor is not sized/specified correctly, then audio degradation can occur. Of course, there's more to it, but I've ranted enough lol..

[@thecanmanification]

Isn’t inductance dealt with by using a transmission line?

[@clansman89]

Get two identical amps, change capacitors in one and blind test it. Should be a nice project for the team.

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

No problem , it's been done for decades .........

[@alexgrigoriou5820]

This video would be ABSOLUTELY PERFECT if it featured ElectroBoom getting shocked!

[@alexgrigoriou5820]

@@funnyarc lol

[@n0stalgia1]

Can confirm that it's an actual Austrian Opera Hall (Viennese Volksoper, to be precise) at 0:14 Very impressed by the research at LTT

[@EddieKMusic]

1. Google "Viennese Volksoper". 2. Take first image result. 3. Add it to video and upload. Random guy on youtube: impressive research

[@davidgriffin79]

End of video; removes palm from face. So, Audio Note sponsored this vid, who'd have thought. Next, audio grade USB cables..

[@TheMaw365]

You can solve this problem by using an off board DAC/AMP to process the audio outside of the case where there is no high power interference. Decent ones aren't even expensive and are worth having. Anything is better than your GPU fragging your board components when it's under load.

[@FrommDK]

Quite misleading to only show electrolytic capacitors followed by claiming electrolytic capacitors are completely different from the other cylinder shaped capacitors. In fact, all the cylendrical capacitors are all electrolytic and polarized. where as the most common capacitor used in modern electronics are called ceramic capacitors and are surface mounted rectangles, very similar looking to surfacemounted (SMD) resistors. "Audio grade" is just a made up classification for high grade capacitors that can charge and dischange quicker than some other capacitors, but nowadays "audio grade" capacitors means nothing due to advances in technology and better component quality

[@outcast341]

Speaking of audio quality, what is that low rumble in the back audio on this vid?

[@rafee9442]

dunno about low rumble but there's some screeching sound every time Linus moves his lips.

[@outcast341]

@@rafee9442 mostly around the sponor segues?

[@outcast341]

You can actually hear banging or someone walking by at 5:36

[@Username_-fm4lj]

Background noise its normal lmao

[@yardbirds89]

@noxxi knoxi really i love chicken tendies...

[@sirtainlee8725]

4:49 "Buy 1 of each capacitor brand. Try each until you determine the best sounding one." Thanks for watching!

[@adamkendall997]

One time I was wiring up a high-pass filter for a car system and I could hear the music actually coming out of the circuit board. I told my friend to turn it up so I could get a better listen and while I'm holding this thing up to my ear, BOOOOOOOM!!!! the thing explodes. Amazingly I was unscathed.

[@forestyogin2218]

Hey, you seem to have missed the upper half of caps. Polypropylene caps are not represented here. However the dissected caps that you show are Poly caps because they have a metal film. The electrolytic caps use an electrolytic chemical as the conductor, not usually metal.

[@suborgtfo.4433]

Well, IDK what it means but it'll definitely makes more sense than my school grades..

[@omarhashiem1132]

same bro ... same

[@mtoddvan]

Nicely explained! But capacitors aren't only used for power storage to offset low & peak spikes in electron flow, they're also used as filters & occasionally believe it or not as low impedance fuses to couple as a bridge safety to burn out (fail) if certain conditions aren't met. Also you mostly concentrated on motherboards & audio components I'd recommend keeping in mind the most distortion can or could result from the power supply either from being a ultra cheap power supply or a possible failure of a capacitor within the power supply. Granted just as motherboards & audio electronics & components have greatly improved so have power supplies. Just a thought to help you along ;-)

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

Indeed.

[@BogdanSerban]

The only "audio grade" capacitors are those used in filters and coupling, and are usually polyester or polystyrene, since they don't distort that much like ceramic or electrolytics do. When it comes to power supplies, it's just a matter of having enough capacitance to remove noise and low ESR. Audio grade electrolytics are just marketing, and if some product uses them as coupling caps, avoid that product.

[@dakata2416]

Finally a sane person! Bless you man ❤

[@ZILtoid1991]

Unless you plan to use single-ended Class-A transistor amps (which need decoupling) with your home speakers, where DC decoupling is a vital thing, regular capacitors should be sufficient. In that case, the DC resistance and inductance introduced by the decoupling capacitor can suck your tone literally. That was the case on many 90's sound cards, which could be upgraded with better capacitors (at the cost of size), but some find the result too bassy, especially with certain OPL2/3 tracks. Gravis Ultrasound and Pro Audio Spectrum 16 cards didn't suffer from such issues.

[@alexhaywood3139]

Most capacitors are actually those small rectangles you see on your boards. Roughly half are probably resistors and half capacitors. Those large electrolytic capacitors are good for lower frequency signals due to their larger capacitance, while MLCCs (multilayer ceramic capacitors) are way better for higher signals due to their much lower effective series resistance. The only advantage of electrolytics is their slightly larger maximum capacitance.

[@ikannunaplays]

Fun fact, the mostly likely non-moving part of most electronics to fail is the capacitor, and they're super easy to replace. I buy dead motherboards all the time just to replace the $1 in capacitors and resell the board for $50+ on eBay.

[@divcurl6044]

I like your style, I would have died of starvation if it wasn't for repairing HP computers in the 80s and 90s. I miss those days. I also "modified" nowadays would be hacked, HPUX so to give obscene error messages, nice....creative spirit and all that. Didn't go down well with my employers for some reason. I was going to say how I did that, but I don't think I should.

[@ikannunaplays]

Div Curl very familiar

[@sbaxter4207]

3.21 Linus character dancing with hair adjustment lol : )

[@oscarswaggie]

3:21 you're welcome

[@pyrokinetikrlz]

I am electronics engineer with quite a few years of experience and this is the first time I've ever heard about audio grade capacitors....

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

That doesn't astonish me............

[@kimherseth9278]

Linus, what the F was this all about? As a consumer, you should be concerned about amplifier performance, which brand of capacitors are used is of absolutely no importance. Yes, there is good manufacturers, and there is crap ones, and the only thing that differs is variations in specifications, and reliability. It will always be up to the designer to select components within tolerance. There is no such thing as an audio-grade capacitor, it`s nothing more than a marketing scheme to make money. For capacitors(and electronics in general), it is the electrical characteristics that is important, not some messed up "feeling" that some moron made up in the late 70`s. Engineers does not feel their way to a good circuit, they calculate, simulate, prototype and measure to make good products, in audio though, there is way to much hype about feel, and not enough care is taken to give consumers proper specifications on the products being sold. -Kim, Electronics engineer

[@arturolejniczak5760]

Audio science review is a great site. Because evrything is measured and based on science. No feelings just data

[@yourdiytechlife]

When you pick up a fully charged capacitor you end up with Linus hair, hmmm maybe I should try that. 😂

[@43audio89]

Im a audio engineer. I started watching these when I wanted to build my own PC. Im absolutely tickled that you guys are expanding to do more stuff in general electronics! Keep it up!

[@ronniepirtlejr2606]

So what is the difference between an audio electrolytic capacitor for audio or a electrolytic capacitor for a power supply that is the same size, same voltage & same uf? Basically if I spend $35 on my "special electrolytic audio capacitors" instead of $10 for my electrolytic power supply capacitors, It will make me feel warm and fuzzy inside when I listen to my audio!

[@divcurl6044]

To be honest, to most EE engineers nowadays, a capacitor is a kind of mystery object that goes next to the power pins on a MCU. The datasheet says to do it, it works, now let's get on with coding that robot arm...

[@JaredPiTrick]

you guys actually need to see the light on the glory of hi-fi. it is insane how deep the rabbit hole goes. EX: Transparent Audio manufactures analog cables that exceed the quality spec that DARPA and NASA require in their manufacturing. you should contact those folks and showcase their process. it is actually insane how big of a difference it can make.

[@RobiePAX]

4:58 - Yeah.. good luck with that. As a guy who used to work in a retail store, I can tell that stores often don't receive demo units unless it's a big expensive brand. So you have to buy a pretty box and hope it sounds good enough for the money. Sales Assistants are not allowed to open them either because then it's no longer new unopened product. And you can't bring it back to store unless it's faulty.

[@aceingaming9656]

Hey, can you guys tell me which one is better audio quality? Back panel or front panel?

[@alansimons141]

As an EE, I can say audio capacitors are just as valuable as gold plated connectors.

[@Oystein87]

Sp quite alot then. If everything from start to end is good enough quality then gold plated connectors does matter a bit. But silver is even better. But the components will never be better than the weakest link anyway.

[@Shawn-wy1pb]

@@herranton Gold has the best anti corrosion property of all metals that’s why it’s used to protect the connections from the environment. One reason that 5000 year old gold artifacts, once cleaned up are as good as new. Gold is also a very good conductor of electricity after silver and copper.

[@johnnyjojones4504]

"The days of low-end motherboards' on-board audio making, like, screeching noises when you move your mouse around are, thankfully, long gone." *tap left mouse button to stop the video BZZZZ I don´t think it´s really gone...

[@lordofstringss]

FINALLY a video on AUDIO!

[@dalepeters3841]

To get the most authentic sound possible, I like to wander into live gun fights for that authentic COD experience.

[@samtherat6]

FPS is also extremely subjective...i don’t notice a difference between 40FPS and a 100FPS, and I wouldn’t have known unless I’d seen it in person.

[@MerolaC]

Holy shit Yesterday I changed the capacitors from Capxon (very cheap and bad brand) to a set of Nichicon FW(M) capacitor on a cheap amplifier and the difference it made was astonishing. And now I understand why it made such a difference.

[@larryvaughn5843]

What do you mean by "couple"? Do capacitors allow AC (audio) current to pass but not DC? How are the two "coupled"?

[@brinkshows2720]

audio grade? You mean low ESR and high life expetancy. (ESR is internal series resistance)

[@Oystein87]

Exactly.. Audi grade👍

[@Hammersmash3dFace]

oh the schiit magni. i also bought a headphone amp from them only recently. but i probably have a uniques problem. my sennheiser hd 270 not only needs more ohms, which is advertised a lot up to 600ohm, but also more than 230mW RMS per channel. At least the old Onkyo from 1998 still brings better bass and pressure. now i'm looking for a good soundblaster for analog output again, because i'm otherwise connected to an av receiver and hdmi or audiointerface. The last one was an audigy a few years ago. last i took a look at evga nu

[@sergiokaminotanjo]

Emo Neko Chan Linus scares me :/ My therapist: Hes not real... Emo Neko Chan Linus 3:24

[@dr.martinlroberts1908]

Nice copy paste skills.

[@sergiokaminotanjo]

@@dr.martinlroberts1908 lol from who,l didnt even read any comment. But of course,the joke is not mine. lts a dead meme actually, if dont know that already.

[@Hiddenus1]

Anyone noticed subtle hum of probably AC Linus is in? Noticable as long he's speaking, in between his words or some quieter ones.

[@TrollFaceTheMan]

"What's the deference between Audio Grade Capacitors and Regular Capacitors..?" Often Times the name and lots of marketing... Don't get me wrong there are better and worse capacitors out there but "Audio Grade" tends to be abused as mush as "Gaming Grade" is... 99% of the time if you hear "Audio Grade" capacitors or otherwise on anything but higher end stuff it is going to be complete bs... (And even then it can be very questionable...)

[@thewhitedragon4184]

They usually have lower esr but it's just a marketing ploy to sell products to people who don't know any better. Try asking for "audio grade" capacitors in an electronic parts store and they'll laugh at you

[@TrollFaceTheMan]

@@thewhitedragon4184, exactly.

[@deansmith4752]

THD is the commonly used determination of signal quality - measuring the Total Harmonic Distortion of the ingoing signal ( sine wave) and the output ( hopefully still a sine wave)

[@frankgeeraerts6243]

The signal =test signal .............nothing to do with real amplifying musical signals......

[@engjds]

The Nichicon Basilisk uses quantum tunnelling dielectrics and charge pump flange mounts to increase electron propulsion beyond that of standard capacitors, I am sat here listening to one through a Sony pro walkman and it sounds better than the majority of DSD 24bit systems.

[@alexii1653]

That hair thoo. Fokinnn nicee

[@legominimovieproductions]

What makes a capacitor audio-grade? The label XD

[@1--JAM--1]

Im doing an engineering degree and this made me cringe in parts haha but is actually a pretty good explanation to the general public, simplified but not completely butchered. Good job!

[@vishaldayalpanta3222]

Linus : Audio grade capacitor Me : whatever, just buy some Schiit

[@tjsmithson1598]

Their DACs don't measure well. Audiosciencereview. Com

[@StillAlive666]

@@tjsmithson1598 you're on crack, the modi 3 is actually really good, especially for the price. Listen with your ears, and not your eyes.

[@wadimek116]

@@StillAlive666 Modi 3 is shit. Is very low end stuff.

[@sireuchre]

Heh... Linus shows us radial lead electrolytic capacitors, describes capacitors as generally looking like that, then shows film capacitors (axial lead), then describes film capacitors internally, going on to describe electrolytic capacitors internally as if they were different from the electrolytic capacitors he first showed. Oh, and when did cheap caps stop being an issue? "My Samsung TV just stopped turning on today." is still a thing.

[@flexairz]

He is cutting corners like crazy for the laymen... Electrical Engineers, like me, cringe at times.. Anyway, well done.

[@hosamali5256]

would you be kind and provide pointers for your perspective of the matter ?

[@yolobathsalts]

Because that's what this series is for. If you want actual lectures, go elsewhere.

[@RelabTV]

I mean i like techquickie videos because i learned a lot from them but this one was utterly pointless. Like go and buy audio wtuff with expensive capacitors what the fuck

[@RelabTV]

as an electrical hobbyist this video made me cringe as well. The electrolytical capacitor is not an invention of some audio company, it is not anything hi-tech and its not any better alternative to ceramic or film capacitors (actually worse when we talk about parasitic resistance and even inductance, critical in audio circuits). And shit like making copper leads to decrease resistance? what the hell man the rest of the electrodes is aluminum or electrolyte. Youre not gonna lower ESR which is relatively high for electrolytic caps by putting copper leads in it omg. If a audio equipment is good it is because how well they engineered the circuit not because they used electrolytic caps with copper electrodes :D If you wanna know something more about it: The basic principle of a capacitor is that there are differently charged electrodes close to each other (one has more electrons, one has more) The difference of charges is causing freely moving electrons, aka charge carriers) to be in one of the electrodes because the other positively charged is electrostatically attract them. The electrostatic force is inversely proportional to the distance of the objects, in our cause electrons and empty-spaces-for-electrons in electrodes, thats why we want to make them be as close as possible so thats why there are electrolytical capacitors where there is one electrode and the other one is electrolyte and the only thing separating them is an thin oxide layer (like micrometers thick). A charged capacitor has a potential to make the electrons flow to level out the charges on the electrons by actually moving them from one electrodes to other. Its like when you have a battery and electrons flow from one end to the other. The Equivalent series Resistance, ESR or internal resistance is the overall ability to move electrons. Aluminium is not that great of a conductor and in capacitors there is a very thin layer of it. And the electrolyte is even worse, thats why el. caps have bigger ESR. When you want to charge thhe capacitor rapidly (like tens of thousands kHz) the ESR starts to play a big role. Usually you connect a parallel ceramic capacitor to the el. cap to reduce this effect. Or there ale low-esr el. caps which you can use. Definitely not audio grade capacitors with copper leads and whatever secret ingrediences lol

[@wolvenar]

At times.. Man most of the explnation is a bad mix of various capacitor types. Electrolytic are by definition all filled with an electrolyte. The there are many types of capacitors. Some are ceramic, tantalum, film (plastic and others), there are more but you get the point. Audio grade used to mean more than it does today. It was initially more to designate a lower ESR, and generally non polar electrolytic. Electrolytic of days gone by were not generally as low of esr as the standard off the shelf is today. Today the term audio grade is not much more than a diluted term by over/mis use of said term.

Yeah, electrolytic capacitors are great... if you want to reduce the service life of your equipment!

[@nkumshahi]

Linus what happened to IPV6? Why no one is using it? 🤔

[@JimGriffOne]

For anyone with buzzing noises on their on-board sound, try buying a cheap "ground loop isolator" for your audio output. It'll get rid of a lot of the buzzing. It's cheaper than upgrading to a separate soundcard and wasting a PCI-e slot (and PCI-e lanes).

[@dj_paultuk7052]

If your using a computer and you want decent sound quality, then forget using the onboard audio. Or even a sound card. All you need is an "Audioquest Dragonfly Black" USB DAC. Its a 32bit ESS based DAC and one of the best in the world. Ive been using one for 3yrs now and would never go back.

[@dumpsterdawg]

Looks like one of those capacitors discharged a bunch of hair gel.

[@peterbreis5407]

Time to start that "100 shitty things I didn't know about PCs and Windows" vodcast, that's been on the backburner for the last 35 years.

[@ThugTheFerret]

The crazy thing is that i got a lecture yesterday that was just about this topic. Nice.

[@peterbreis5407]

That's the crazy of most consumer obsessions. Fact is most people are either partially deaf or in circumstances that make it hard to hear beyond even "good audio" let alone high fidelity, as evidenced by the extremes that audio aficionados go to to make audio neutral rooms filled with sound absorbent cone walls and insulation in the walls. We live in a world horrendously polluted with everything, PARTICULARLY noise. Instead of doing something about it people actually make it worse. Besides the noise they produce from all the cars, trucks, machinery air conditioning, and household/office devices, they make MORE noise with what they are trying to listen to. Commuters are the worst, turning up their sound to deafening levels to try and out compete with everyone around them. Result? Nobody gets what they want and everybody gets what they don't want. Hearing problems.

[@steverojas4180]

This is not very accurate, I'm an electrical engineer and I can confirm that "audio grade" doesn't really mean much. Electrolytic capacitors are not only used for audio, if you open a power supply you will no doubt see several electrolytic capacitors. Look at any motherboard, next to the CPU socket you will find several large capacitors that are used to stabilize the CPU voltage. Now for the whole talk about getting a lower resistance, I just want to point out that resistance is linear and does not introduce any distortion, only an insignificant loss of volume. Impedance though is different: The impedance of a capacitor is a complex number, and is the sum of resistance and reactance of the capacitor. The impedance depends on the capacitance and the frequency of the signal. Having capacitors that are too small will reduce the bass, since the impedance of a capacitor increases as frequency gets lower. Basically, all you have to do is make sure your capacitors are big enough and you're good. It goes without saying that capacitors are not the only component that matters. Most distortion comes from the DACs, ADCs, and semiconductor devices. Non-linearity in semiconductor devices is unavoidable, and good circuit design is the only way around that.

[@jackalovski1]

That, audio artifact thing when moving the mouse is something I've always had with Creative sound cards. I always thought it was something I had to live with because I've never had a system that didn't do it and now you're telling me I'm missing out?

[@tomf3150]

Jackalovski Back in the days I had this probleme because of a multicore friendly build of flash player. That shit was unable to work properly on a monocore cpu, no matter what sound card i tried (even a turtlebeach).

[@RafaelMilewski]

That annoying sound of the mouse moving you mentioned that is long gone still happens with my recently purchase razor blade stealth 2080 max q design...

[@KevinBenecke]

If you haven't made a video about it yet, could you do one about the "Ready Boost" feature on Windows please? What does it do or what is it supposed to do and how does it work?

[@dankopanko9478]

its so intresting learning this in school and then hear it explained in eng in totally diffrent way, and i get it now, it was helpful thx :3

[@thewhitedragon4184]

Don't buy this video's garbage

[@Zhorellski]

Do they replaced Preamp and Power Tubes for Solid State Amp?

[@World_Theory]

I didn't know anyone else had that problem with mouse movements causing sounds in the headphones. The only time I ever encountered that problem, was when I used a pair of $20 Logitech USB headphones from Walmart, with a Logitech gaming mouse, in my computer that would be around 12-15 years old now, but only about 1-2 years old at the time. That sound annoyed me something fierce, because the headphones otherwise sounded great. But then the plastic frame snapped, so I didn't have to worry about that anymore.

[@Dougie085]

Some audio grad caps have silver leads even, they are quite expensive.

[@absalomdraconis]

They're usually overpriced as well.

[@StefanEtienneTheVerrgeRep]

Bro, the human eye can't even see more than 24 micro farads per second. Just make sure your headphones are anti static to really clear up the noise interference!

[@Finite-Tuning]

Audio grade is just a fancy "special pricing" specification, nothing more! A 2% +/- spec is an audio grade capacitor whereas a 10% +/- is not! And yes, I still hear my mouse moving through my 18" sub with audio grade bla!

[@LNDR9]

If you paint gold a capacitor it will become audio grade

[@p3chv0gel22]

“like you're sitting in a concert hall in vienna“ Well i like the sound of my headphones more. But i felt asleep during “Carmen“ in vienna, so...

[@samwalsh2602]

"The days of low-end motherboards' on-board audio making, like, screeching noises when you move your mouse around are, thankfully, long gone." My mouse is fine but when my pc is working hard, the speakers buzz. My mobo is ASUS and from 2017...

[@Psytronex]

Hang on...didn't we get rid of electrolytic capacitors from motherboards, because they dry out over time? Solid state is the better option. Now we're supposed to believe we specifically want them for audio?

[@d.oconnor4047]

I just went from a Asus Strix z270i mobo to a Gigabyte x570 Aorus Master and I noticed a HUGE improvement in audio, I didnt think that sort of difference was possible in terms of mobo audio quality

[@Ju13n1s2e9]

What is the point about discuss capacitors without discussing important properties such as impedance and esr?

[@jaydencdq]

no one is talking about the thumbnail and linus using his pinkie and thumb to hold the capacitors? ok

[@wayneparris3439]

Caps store electricty....... Well, sort of... in a power supply, yep they help to smooth pulsed DC voltage into a smoother more pure DC BUT, in AUDIO circuts they also block DC voltage while allowing AC voltage to pass through with a minimum of restriction or Impedance to the AC signal which is what the audio signal is made of.

[@haxalicious]

To get godlike audio, all you need is a $3000 pair of headphones. And a $500 amp. And a $500 DAC. And audio in a very high quality format recorded with an expensive mic and ADC. And also to tweak sound settings.

[@keis2046]

You just make it too simple. Capacitors is all about electric energy capacity, discharge rate, recharge rate, ESR, noise and ripples filtering.

[@hannibalhector3719]

I had to reread this because the first time I read "nipples filtering"

[@MathewPanicker1010]

This isn't a capacitor tutorial video.

[@keis2046]

@@MathewPanicker1010 Right, this is not a tutorial, but you can't really tell what's different or special about any type of capacitor if you don't talk about these specification.

[@kenlarge5154]

no advert from massdrop for their new DAC?

[@magottyk]

Complete load of crap. Audio grade is just a way of making a bit more money on a standard low esr cap by putting a different sleeve on them. As to the quality Japanese caps, well it's been well over a decade since the spate of bad caps due to incorrect electrolyte formulations from cheaper non Japanese suppliers caused major issues.

[@pikminlord343]

great rundown