Posted on Saturday, 13th June 2009 by Jimmy Auw

Most of the time, money could buy anything - except time (and sometime, love ;) ). Like this Duelund CAST-PIO capacitor. You have the money, but you have to wait around 6-8 weeks (not including shipping time), before you could get it on your hand (even if you could pay more, it won’t arrive faster). Well, it happens on me. After a long time waiting for this, finally it arrives today - the current most praised and perhaps most expensive capacitor (I’m not saying it’s the best sound one - not yet), Duelund CAST-PIO Copper (Cu) capacitor. I bought the copper foil version. The most expensive (and not reasonable from my point of view) is the silver foil, but that one should be completely out of my imagination (and budget).

Handmade in Denmark? Some say you can’t rush the Danes and yes you can’t. Just wait 6-8 weeks before they will finish your order. This Duelund VSFCu-PIO/CAST is rated at 630VDC or 300VAC.

Suffix CAST means this is the highest grade compared to VSF version only (without CAST). According to Duelund, as below:

The Duelund CAST Capacitor is our no holds barred flagship capacitor.
The construction builds on the foundation of our Virtual Stack Foil design but does so with the addition of a proprietary WPIO dielectricum which necessitates several days of impregnation under high pressure.

Hope they are right, otherwise I shall regret for the rest of my life for buying this capacitors ;)

I plan to run some benchmarking from these capacitors below, to get the “King of Capacitor” title of my version. Please be noted that the best for my ears doesn’t have to be the best for your ears to. YMMV!

The contenders:

  • Duelund VSFCu-PIO/CAST -  1uF/630VDC/300VAC
  • Mundorf Silver/Gold/Oil - 1uF/1200VDC/800VAC
  • Jensen Copper Foil Paper Tube - 0.47uF/630VDC
  • VCap TFTF - 0.47uF/600VDC
  • Jensen Copper Foil - 0.47uF/630VDC

I remove Audio Note Capacitor from my list, since I hate its leakage issue. Good capacitor but less durable is simply out of the league (well, at least for me). I hear the new Oil Filled Mylar from Audio Note is better and safer. Will try if I have chance later.

It’s also interesting to see the battle between Jensen Copper Foil (old one) vs Jensen Copper Foil Paper Tube (latest generation). Just like Audio Note with its new Mylar Filled Oil, Jensen also update their premium capacitor line-up with its Paper Tube version. This Jensen Paper Tube version priced around 2.5 times more expensive compared to the standard Copper Foil.

Now, it’s break-in time!!!


Tags: , , , ,
Posted in Collectible Stuff, DIY Audio | Comments (10)

10 Responses to “Be Prepared for Extreme Capacitors Battle”

  1. Mike Says:
    June 15th, 2009 at 12:33

    Anjrittttt… ada Duelund Cast dia…
    Gimana suaranya Pak? Harganya aja bikin semaput tuh.

    Salam kenal Pak.



  2. Jimmy’s Junkyard » Blog Archive » Some More “Deadly” Collections Says:
    June 21st, 2009 at 22:38

    [...] some “crazy” capacitors here, I keep adding some more items on my collections. I call it, rest of my life [...]



  3. pakDhe Gondrong Says:
    June 23rd, 2009 at 21:12

    Gileee….
    Ini orang benar benar avonturir di audio hiend.
    salam,
    DWA



  4. Jimmy Auw Says:
    June 23rd, 2009 at 23:48

    Mendekati “sakit” Pak hehehe…
    Thanks.



  5. Dino Ary Says:
    July 2nd, 2009 at 12:54

    Maauuu Duelund-nya!
    Hahahaha



  6. Jimmy’s Junkyard » Blog Archive » Capacitors Break-In Session Says:
    July 4th, 2009 at 00:51

    [...] remember the extreme capacitors battle? Well, we need to break-in those capacitors first for a fair judgement. So here it is. I [...]



  7. Aip Says:
    July 9th, 2009 at 17:11

    *pingsan*



  8. Jimmy’s Junkyard » Blog Archive » ELMA Switch for Capacitor Comparison Session Says:
    August 2nd, 2009 at 18:44

    [...] remember the Extreme Capacitor Battle article? Well, it’s not done yet, but we are very close on it. The break-in session has reached [...]



  9. gee soh Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 17:09

    Hi Jimmy,
    I had been reading all your articles especially
    on Capacitor.Please advise how do you determine which is the Positive and Negative end of a Capacitor?
    Appreciate your advise.
    Thank You,
    Regards,
    gee



  10. Jimmy Auw Says:
    December 2nd, 2009 at 21:49

    Hi,
    You will need an oscilloscope to do so (for exact result) or you can see the vendor suggested polarity.
    Thanks.



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