One huge caveat to comparing K72 and FT3 is that the largest value of K72 available seems to be 0.056uF, while FT3 is predominantly available in 0.1 and 0.22uF. FT3 is glass-encapsulated while K72 is hermetically sealed, and due to the thick steel case, K72 is even heavier than FT3. Here is an internal picture of K72, courtesy of the internet.įT3 uses aluminum casing and thin tabs as leadouts while K72 uses thicker steel casing with solid poles as leadouts. It is my understanding that FT3 and K72 caps are internally the same.

Some praise it while others despise it and write it off completely. Probably the most hyped AND maligned cap out there. It conveys music in a flowing, suave tonality and is the crooner of the cap crowd.

Its trick is having equal resolution from top-to-bottom, so the whole is well, wholesome. It doesn't wear its detail resolution on its sleeve, yet when one chooses to listen for it, the extension in both directions are impressive as well as actual detail. However, after living with this cap for a long time, one has to marvel at its consistently musically-revealing nature and tonality. This evenness and lack of glare, grain, or bite can be disadvantageous for FT3, especially in quick cap-rolling A-B comparisons, where a cap with a more insistent personality will attract more attention and spotlight. This cap is exceedingly smooth, smooth, yet resolved like only Its lack of traditional leadouts also forces one to make his own I had to solder some leftover leads as seen in the photo above. The FT3 is a great cap sonically, but its sheer size and weight can present a challenge in cramped spaces. Otherwise, I would have had to buy on eBay and wait a month for delivery. I must first thank an Audio Circle member Gary ('GBB') for loaning me the FT3 and K72 caps. So once again, I still think silver/oil is the cap that most likely will have me keep listening to my (non-perfect) music collection instead of tweaking, but if your system is already leaning towards liquidity, silver/gold may be a better choice. Because silver/oil makes this range less noticeable, the high treble/air becomes relatively more noticeable, but upon closer analysis, the silver/gold has just as much upper end extension and air. Liquefies a few percent of the upper-midrange/low-treble spittiness and hardness inherent in many recordings. As a result, I am able to enjoy more percentage of my recordings through silver/oil, which One word I would use to describe the main difference is 'liquidity.' While both are remarkably smooth, silver/oil has more liquidity, not enough to obscure detail but just enough to 'massage' recordings that are not perfect. However, they have sufficiently differing presentations and gestalt that yes, one 'may' definitely prefer silver/oil in a given setup/preferences. There are some who have concluded silver/gold is 'not as good' as silver/oil, but I would not agree with that conclusion. I finally did some proper comparisons between these two capacitors, and while they do share the musical Mundorf house sound, their differences are significant enough that one should not automatically think a system synergistic with one will be synergistic with the other. Mundorf silver/gold is almost three times the price of RTX, unfortunately, so save your pennies. Musical textures just pulled your ears in, and that often-yearned-for 'magic' was in the air. Suddenly, I had beautifully colorful (but not colored) midrange that 'popped' with effortless midrange dynamics. What really put the RTX in perspective was when I switched in Mundorf silver/gold again. Sonicap Platinums, these are a nice bargain in the cap world, but I wouldn't use too many in equipment that tends toward dryness in the midrange. Extension of frequency extremes was impressive, and the level of resolution was high without highlighting upper-midrange or upper-bass.Ĭompared to Sonicap Platinums, RTX didn't sound as dense and rich in the midrange, but it still managed to sound subjectively neutral, akin to some of those high-class red wines that's on the dry side as opposed to fruity and colorful. Do not evaluate them without a long workout after solder dries.Īfter dust settled, these turned out to be very balanced top-to-bottom with no gross errors or peaks.

Warning: Even after a long break-in, these caps sounded horrid for some hours after being soldered in, sounding grainy on top and anemic in the bass. Sonicap Platinums, and I must say they did pretty well against the heavy hitters. Some more recent cap comparisons also confirm they are very good coupling caps by themselves. The RTX had some big shoes to fill, replacing This tin foil/polystyrene cap has been around a long time, and many designers and modders swear by their use as bypass caps.

Audio note capacitors review