will
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I guess it is all relative. But if Pass believes those cap upgrades make the older amp optimal, that seems a good sign they have not come up with better for their tastes and pricing preferences, etc,. And I guess that could be a good thing, Pass amps still a doorway to the beauty for many.
Also, I agree that a cap does not necessarily need to be costly to help with exotic, complexly musical sound. And how long a cap lasts in electronics is likely a consideration for Pass also.
As many as I tried, my favorite very small bypasses, the ones I use a lot for bypassing bypasses , these caps 0.01uF down to 0.001, are between $1-2 each, polyester Mallory M150s. I have tried a fair number of 0.01s for comparison, but mainly cheaper ones under $10 for these small/small caps, with a few more costly, and Duelund 0.01s being the only "boutique" caps I have tried in this small cap area.
To me there is no denying impressive sound from Duelund caps, but here, none are in use just now. So far (over several years of intermittent attempts) I still find the Duelund bypasses seductive at first, but finally a little overstated in the applications I have tried. That said, obviously many, many audiophiles love them, and I hear from reliable sources that crossovers are where they can really shine. But to me the little ones I have tried are "too good." This setup super resolving, I hear everything pretty clearly, and I find them to be "very intelligently" voiced, intellectually getting it really pretty "right" by most audiophile standards. A big part of this being nicely translucent and low on smearing while remaining musical. So they seem quite clear in "what they have to say," and here, they say it so clearly that I hear them as a little "too intellectual" and a little "forceful" sounding. And I most definitely want similarly open, resolving, unsmeared beauty, but only if it mixes with the rest as natural sounding, and in ways that I am not able to "hear" a part, while loving how engaging resolving beauty can be.
So, in my "mind," most decisions for that "house sound" make total sense, and they do it all really well, but in this setting, they tend to a little strongly stated and "too right" sounding. I really have wanted to love these caps, and almost do every time I retry them somewhere. They sound great in most capacities in my "mind," but not quite to my "heart," so they don't stay in. But I have gotten what I think it is a more real seeming window into a similar open, resolving, clarified musicality that is less "obvious" by mixing other caps carefully, something I have enjoyed playing with. So my guess is that I already am getting most of what Duelunds offer from a lot of things combined, which likely makes adding them a little forceful for me. And though I have tried these smallish bypasses in lots of places, it is still limited exposure, and my specific exposure, so......
Different end-sound, but I have a similar feeling from the Mundorf Supreme line. Silver oils are the highest I went up this range, a nice cap designed to fit Mundorf's idea of complete sound, but also having a "feeling" of intellectual affect, voiced to tick all the audiophile boxes in a little different ways. But, for me, they too are a little too "made rather than born" sounding.
So here are two "boutique caps" I have tried in many places, electronics and speakers. And especially after these and similar experiences, I have not tried soniccraft's high cost teflon very small bypasses or VHAudio's. Part of this is that those are pretty costly to try, and part is that the Mallorys are relatively speaking subtly good (to me) for these very fine detail and speed supplementations, the right values in the right positions gently giving the sound refinement I am after. In combination with my other larger preferred bypass caps, it can be right enough feeling that I "don't hear" the caps...just music.
My bigger bypasses (0.022-0.22, most core bypasses combinations of around 0.1) are mainly Milfex Copper Oil, Miflex Copper Foil (in combination these 2 Miflex are most present), along with some recycled Jupiter HTs in several positions, and a few nicer poly caps for solid flavor in specific amp/sound areas. So I am a more middle of the roader cost-wise, and could care less if it is "boutique sound," my big concern extraordinarily real feeling sound and relative synergy across most recordings styles. Though admittedly my financial risk meter is an influential bias from the above experiences and similar. And for smaller value caps particularly, Miflex are to me a real value cap. I prefer my Miflex Copper Oil and Mallory blends over the above mentioned "high dollar" caps, and more costly midrange 0.1 caps, for which I have quite a few that are well respected.
And this does not mean these caps would make your Pass amp more refined and resolving in musical ways... I am not familiar with the insides of them so can't speculate on how you might benefit from more complete sounding caps well placed. But I also would not be surprised if it could be artfully tuned to sound more complete with carefully chosen and implemented mods.
Also the system/room we are listening to obviously matters in how we hear or don't hear subtle things that can make the music real when right. So when folks who have used Pass and gotten Decware don't look back, it may be more spacial resolution and harmonic lift is a "grabber," and that this may be based a lot on a simple point-to-point design arrived at by tech, but mostly sound finally, with few parts, and decent tubes being such a big part of those sound designs. So the Decware "flavoring" from Steve's voicing includes being transparent enough to hear small changes in a resolving system/room.
Don't know where this is going, but hopefully some more helpful things to consider as you evolve with "having thoughts."
Do I recall correctly Burgermeester that you are in Japan? If so, one thought came to mind as I was reading your recent post as a possible exploration that could possibly help move in a direction intersting to you??? Are you familiar with Jeff Day and his writings? Not that I necessarily agree with some of his findings, but as we have learned, how things mix can be as important as what we are trying to mix, and he is no doubt an avid and considered explorer. If I am recalling correctly, his Japanese freind/mentor loves to fix up vintage amps??? Don't know details, but it might be worth checking Jeff's post index and perhaps search WE wire (NOS Western Electric) and Arizona Cactus capacitors, two things I think I recall this Japanese man bringing to Jeff's attention as worth exploring. I wonder if you could find him, and with luck in proximity, see if you like his sound preferences. Then, if so, see if he might be up for tuning up your amp some? Maybe start small and see if you agree with his choices and go from there???
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