V-Caps and Ancient Audio's Lektor Prime

I've both the V-Cap OIMP & Tef caps installed in my Great Northern Sound modified Audio Research LS25 Mk2 pre-amplifier, see pictures of original unit vs. modified (sorry, over 2MB).













Whatever positive is said about V-Caps (see their Web-site or e.g. Audio Asulym for reviews), I concur. They have taken ARC LS25 to new sonic heights, way exceeding what I anticipated. These caps let through phenomenal amount of information and nuances. But burn-in period is as painful as documented in Six Moon's review of Ancient Audio Lektor Prime CD-player. Let me quote from Six Moon's review:

"Bill Baker of Response Audio who was on the beta-testing panel for the V-Caps and uses these parts extensively in his modifications, had this to say: "The first 50 hours can be unbearable at times. During the initial 150 hours, these capacitors have a unique routine of one step forward, two steps back. After you get through the initial 150 hours, the capacitors will start to improve on a consistent basis without the back-stepping. I would say that you are at about 60% at this point. They really do not start to open up until you reach the 400-hour mark. At 400 hours, you are at about 90-95%. Teflon is known to continue changing even up to 1200 hours. Obviously these changes become much more subtle but this is the characteristic of Teflon-based capacitors. I used several hundreds of these throughout 2006 and can honestly say that if there is not at least 300-400 hours on the unit, the evaluation is premature and you are not experiencing its full potential."

BTW, read whole review of that Polish CD-player, it's interesting stuff. Ancient Audio evidently has attitude, look into Lector Grand 3-chassis design: transport with two separate mono DACs.