Preamp Deal of the Century

It's clearly a matter of taste. I can see how what I like about the AuriCaps, someone else might relate to as fuzzier.

I think Mick started to use VCaps because customers asked him to. I didn't like the change and asked him what he thought. After he'd put on 400 hours, he disliked the VCaps and went back to the Auris. When I asked about Audience's new Teflon caps, Mick said they were expensive as sin and he'd only recommend those to people who don't care about money (which ain't me).

Just speaking for myself, I'm thrilled to be back in the AuriCap reservation. At the end of the day, it was a great exercise to hear just how much a simple swap of two parts (one per channel) can affect the outcome of a finely calibrated circuit.

I'm sending my VCaps back to Mick so he can use them for one of his customers who wants 'em -:)

To be clear, just because I happen to share Mick's personal preference for the Auricaps now that I have compared them to the VCaps doesn't mean (nor should it be inferred to mean) that those who prefer the VCaps are off their rocker -:)

Nor would Mick make them available if people didn't like 'em. Just as you pointed out, tube rolling (and cap rolling) are simply after-the-fact voicing options for the end user and Mick's hard-wiring scheme makes experimenting with cap swaps a lot easier than circuit board mounting -;)