With the interest expressed on this forum and through customer enquiries, I am offering premium capacitor upgrade kits for the MAD Octal 6A preamp, Ear+ Purist headphone amp, and Ultra 4A and Line 2A preamps. These include Auricap coupling caps and Back Gate cathode bypass caps, which cover all capacitors in the signal path. In the case of the Ultra 4A/Line 2A, the conversion will bring these units up to the SE specification. The kits include instructons/diagrams, all capacitors, solder, and shipping by international small packet air. See the MAD web site for prices. I recommend the Ultra 4A conversion only for experienced DIYers as some conponents have to be temporarily removed to gain access to all the capacitors that are to be swapped.
I have done a comparative listening test with the Ultra 4A SE and standard Ultra 4A and there is a definite expancsion of the soundstage and imaging capabilities with the Auricap/Black Gate capacitors. As with most so-called upgrades, the difference/improvement obtained is in the last 10% of the potential of the circuit. There is always more that can be done but the cost grows without bound as you approach 100%.
Let me lnmpw if you have any questions/opinions on this or any other subject and I will try to give you my best answers/opinions.
Regards,
Lloyd
