Taiwan(China or anyone else) has NEVER(yet) manufactured ANYTHING that can compare to the Rubycon Black Gates, in sound OR technology. We(modders) lost a valuable resource when they discontinued the line. Read: (http://www.acoustic-dimension.com/blackgate/techEcap.htm) What's stated about distortion is measurable, and verified here:(http://www.stereophile.com/news/022105industry/#) Read paragraphs 6,7,& 8 of the article. The closest we have now is the Sanyo OsCon, and(unfortunately) they are only made in smaller values. I have them in the power supply of my TacT RCS 2.2X. (http://www.diyparadise.com/oscon.html) PLEASE NOTE: In the above; I am(mainly) referring to the use of electrolytic capacitors, and power supply mods. There are a number of excellent signal caps currently in manufacture, though none(that I am aware of) from Taiwan or China.
Black Gate caps
I'm curious to know if those of you who have ever modified or upgraded the stock capacitors in their SS preamps to Black Gate caps, could hear a difference or an improvement after the mod. Seems like maybe 2 or 3 years ago when these caps were going out of production, quite a few people were jumping on the band wagon of modifying/upgrading the capacitors in their audio gear to Black Gate's. I'm sure enough time has passed for these caps to break in, so, I'm just curious to know how it turned out for those of you who made the mod, or even for those who have an opinion this subject.. Thanks.