[sdiy] Orange Drop Capacitors?

[Magnus Danielson]

David G. Dixon wrote:
>> Exactly.  That's why a previous previous poster urged a metrics based
>> approach to comparative testing.  I think it's the only way to eliminate
>> the human subjectivity (provided the metric testing is complete and
>> repeatable).
> 
> But isn't this all about "human subjectivity" in any case?  Even if you
> could measure quantitatively which capacitor sounds better, the
> interpretation of the measurements would be based on purely subjective
> criteria.
> 
> There was a big article on metrics in one of our national newspapers the
> other day (the National Post), part of a series on important developments of
> the last decade.  Apparently, there is a growing concern among experts that
> taking a quantitative approach to everything is destroying our ability to
> apply our instincts to important problems, and thereby paralyzing our
> ability to take action as a society.
> 
> I guess the moral is: "Use your ears!"

This is indeed a valid concern. Just because you can measure something 
to great detail, doesn't mean that you get high quality information out 
of it, because it assumes that the information you get is relevant to 
the conclusion you are going to make. A problem is that is the ability 
to interprent the measurement data into the problem you want. The myriad 
of measurement approaches and summarized data is a good proof of this.

The old IMD/TIM war is another.

The benefit of even harmonics over odd harmonics distorsion is yeat an 
issue which prohibits simple and straightforward analysis of goodness.
Toss in the pre and post filtering on a "good" distorsion mode. Toss in 
the feedback path path. Etc. etc. etc.

Measurements is good hints, engineering tools to guide us somewhat in 
the right direction, but we need to learn what measurement to trust when 
and the feedback goes through out ears and we gain experience in what to 
look for when.

We could equalize the frequency responce into +/- 1 dB, +/- 0,1 dB or 
whatever limits we want... so OK, that will not be the main issue... but 
then the main isssue may be some distorsion, noise, transient 
response... but on the other hand, some distorsion of parameters the ear 
actually likes...

Cheers,
Magnus