Black Gate Capacitors

The Nature of Black Gate Capacitors

It is worth mentioning that the Black Gate (BG) capacitors have been out of production since 2006. Due to their quality and scarcity of supply, their price only went up over the decade. BGs are now selling 3-5 times their original retail price. Needless to say more as these facts speak for themselves. While some caps excel in one or some area(s) or another, no other capacitor type on this planet sounds as complete as BGs. The only real alternative (if it is an alternative at all) is the careful harmonic matching with other capacitors & materials, which only approaches the magic sound qualities close to the Black Gates.

What important is to understand the specific nature of the Black Gate capacitors, that some people seem to overlook. If one is not familiar with BGs then one may experience an initial disappointment right after powerering on of a product with BG caps inside.

The sound is going to be likely the opposite of what is expected. The music is going to sound dull as if the top end has been removed, with sluggish dynamics and muddy mid and lows. However, be assured that is a temporary phenomenon associated with unused BG capacitors. Unlike all other caps available, the BG capacitors have graphite particles impregnated paper separator (dielectric) inside them.

It takes a couple of days these graphite particles to form the conductive tunnels. The process is very similar to rechargeable batteries. Once the graphite tunnels are formed (similar to batteries being charged), the BG capacitors continue to improve approximating their best. The sound will open up and the bass becomes clearly defined with plenty of dynamics yet very smooth at the same time.

Depending on the BG type, capacity and application, the initial stage of continuous BG running in time is about a week. The sound will continue to improve as long as the equipment is kept switched on. However, unfortunately just like with batteries, the process building up the charge is also reversible. If the rechargeable batteries remain unused for a prolonged period of time, they tend to lose the charge. So if you go on holidays for a week, you more or less would have to start from the beginning. That is unfortunately the only other drawback (apart from price and scarcity) that one has to live with.

The upside is that the sound incomparably better than with any other capacitors we tried and we have tried and tested almost all the capacitors available, vintage inclusive. Once the BG capacitors undergone the initial run in phase, one is rewarded with the magical properties in sound: everything opens up with vivid colors and pitch dark background; while the sound becomes holographic, speakers start disappearing from the room and the dynamic immediacy starts to surprise us with life-like naturalness of attacks and decay.

Having mentioned the specific aspect of BG capacitors, please do not rush with the judgment before one week passes with your DAC being continuously being switched on. Leaving the DAC on permanently not only runs your BG capacitors in and ensures ever improving sound but also reveals the true potential of those capacitors.

Exclusive Resource:

The Black Gate Story

Black Gate Capacitors Vs Audio Note Kaisei Capacitors:

During the early development of our products, we conducted extensive research on what components would synergize well with our design philosophy. Once we were satisfied in our findings about the capacitors in-house, we held a battle royale between capacitors and shared our findings with the followers. As it is an extensive list of capacitors, it is rather difficult to single out the best without talking about another in context. For anyone curious about the results, please get in touch with us.

Moving on, we decided publish a more condusive test on the famous Black Gate and Audio Note Kaisei Capacitors. The list was more comprehensive with the contestants being:

Rubycon Black Gate VK 150uF/350V, VK 22uF/350, WKZ 100uF/500V

Audio Note Kaisei Polar 100uF/500V, Non polar 50uF/500V

All of these tests are conducted in ceteris paribus conditions and we hope to publish more test in the future for our fans and followers.

The full Black Gate VK/WKz vs AN Kaisei Review is available here.