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In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: What is the buzz: the V-Caps?
Post Subject: Well, they are "different"Posted by Paul S on: 8/6/2007

It seems like lots of folks use parts to try to tune/voice their systems, and the V-Caps are just another option, IMO.  No matter what people think of new parts as they break them in, they will eventually tire of the overall sound from their systems and/or they will become open to a change.  My own theory on this is that as long as the change is not obviously for the worse, it may be percieved as "better" for any number of objective or subjective reasons, even when the listener in quesiton is basically not equal to describing exactly what it is he is newly moved by.  I have not tried the V-cap because my sources say its primary attribute is "focus", at the expense of some other qualities, and this jibes with what I have heard from other Teflons I have tried.  I drew fire from you when I mentioned that the (stupidly expensive!) Teflon/poly "co-mingled di-electric" Cardas caps did a good job in my phono stage.  My choice in this case was based on simplistic trust in the component's designer, however, rather than any loyalty to or built-up expectaitons about either Teflon or Cardas, per se.  In other words, it was dumb luck for me that they "worked" to provide the ambiance and overall performance I wanted but had not gotten from other caps I had tried in that position.  Since this is the only place I've tried them, I can't offer anything else.

I try to listen through the blathering superlatives and spurious criticisms that form clouds around the latest and greatest to get to any meat available when reading about parts.  I find I can usually get a pretty good idea if I boil down a number of descriptions/opinions from various sources, some of whom I use as "references" not because I agree with them but because I can +/- count on my own reactions relative to their descriptions and proclamations.  Of course there is apt to be a measure of consensus at any one site due to herd mentality, and of course the paid reviewers must be read with a Thesaurus and a salt shaker close at hand.  My own approach has been to just mentally delete (or at least severally temper) the hyperbole.  Don't we all fall for things "too violently" now and again?

I forget just now who makes it, but I seem to recall that there is a copper foil Teflon cap available.  Might be a Rel-Cap. It is expensive.  I think Percy may still offer them.  One "technical" problem for me is that Teflon notoriously "cold forms", so I wonder about its performance over time.  Of couse I will tattle if the Cardas "co-mingled dielectric" caps go south, either in fact or to my fickle mind.

Has anyone given any thought to price versus cost (versus performance...) of these "exotic" caps?  Anyone for Deulund?  I think these are 6-nines OCC copper and hand-made Japanese paper infused with oil from milked-alive Antartic-cycle sperm whales (hence the cost/prices).

Romy, I did do a fair amount of fishing trying to find a "consumer" source for a matched pair of ElectroCube 950Ds. These puppies may not be expensive but they are "exotic" in their own way because hard to source for average chumps with little use for large-ish quantities of them.  Sometimes I opt to piss money rather than time.

Best regards,
Paul S

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