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JW

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
1,100
Location
Portland USA
I ordered a bunch of Nichicon muse caps but I still have some values I need to fill in so I'm looking for some recommendations in the other Nichicon series'

At digikey they have the VR, VZ, PW, and HE nichicons, and I believe they're the same over at Mouser except you put a U in front. UVR, UVZ etc.

Anyway, I guess I shouldn't even be including the VR, because they're rated at 85 degrees instead of 105C like the others. But hey

I think the PW's might be optimized for use in power supplies? According to the digikey catalog?
Might be wrong.

VZ? HE?

Anyway, anybody have some esoteric opinions about how any of these sound?
 
search the board, Ive posted alot about the pw's. they are really awesome. really smooth caps all around with a nice sloping roloff on the top end and a decent bottom, really fabulous mids. Not sparkly in the highs like panasonic FC's and not scooped in the mids like FC's. Ive been using them for months now and am getting the hang of where to put them, they are great caps, definitely get some to try out to see if you like what they do. They'll smooth out anything without making it sound old or dull.

dave
 
I dig the PW and HE sounds pretty good too. I'm far from the first person on the board to mention this. HE are actually very low impedance and very long-lasting, so they're good for power supplies as well as audio. These two series are my go-to caps. I've yet to try any of that fancy muse stuff. Cash is King.
 
I also have had good luck with the HE and VZ, in particular the HE.
Although I have used the MUSE series a number of times I unfortunately have not done a direct comparison between the MUSE and the VZ or HE.
If you are going to go the full 9 yards with component quality in a known excellent circuit the MUSE sound very smooth and clear compared to garden variety electrolytics. But I just modded out a DBX 166 (don't laugh, it sounds pretty good) and used HE's and was really impressed. Seems like a good value for the money. I also noticed one of the "boutique" hi end parts suppliers was selling these as premium caps.
 
VZ, HE and PW rock. I have channels with nothing but PWs in them and they are smooth but dark. the HEs are smooth but very neutral. the VZ is a little more aggressive sounding to me, but they are all very nice caps. I tore out all my FC caps because i hated the way they sounded and replaced with HE. very satisfied now!
 
I love the UPW's (as Mouser calls them), and use them almost exclusively. I like them better than the Muse and the Gold series even, and I think they stand up well against the Elna Cerafines (which are damn near impossible to get here in the US). And they're reasonably priced!
 
Just for info from Nichicon

The designation Muse now constitutes seven series: KZ, FX, SK, MC, UK, ES and SW.
 
Looked up for more info on the web
Nichicon MUSE
Three series on current catalogue which are not SMDs

KZ
http://www.nichicon.com/english/seihin/pdfs/e-kz.pdf

FG
http://www.nichicon.com/english/seihin/pdfs/e-fg.pdf

BI Polar ES
http://www.nichicon.com/english/seihin/alm_mini/list_f.htm
 

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