Clarity Cap CMR Impressions

Hi everyone,

So I’m pretty much done listening to the CMR’s, and ready to give a verdict in my system. Oddly, I find the case colors of the MR and CMR line exactly opposite of how they sound. the Red CMR sounds cool, while the blue MR sounds warm.

The CMR’s start of WAY cooler sounding than the MR, but also less congested, more effortless. They break in over time and the coolness wears off, but they remain a little too cool for me, and a little disjoint. Maybe this is a matter of my crossover.

I still have a more open, and cooler cap than before. So overall I think this is an improvement. My original impression that the CMR is a cool cap along the lines of the Mundorf Silver/Oil but without the juiciness/color added remains true for me. In any event, I did end up going with a very small Audyn TC bypass cap on the larger CMR cap, which brought back the warmth and also seems to do a good job of better connecting the midrange to the treble.

I like both the MR and CMR more than I like the Mundorf Silver/Oil caps. The MR is naturally warmest, CMR almost as cool as the Mundorf S/O. I still recommend a bypass cap on larger CMR caps.

Best,

E

These are again my better impressions:

Probably no one will interrupt, but I would like to tell you that bypassing a capacitor with a very small value could create a phase-shift that could cause a "fake" warm timbre; This is measured.

My impression on CMR is that it is warmer, full bodied, with a lot of nuance and complete range frequency than MR.
MR is a loudness cap with lesser dynamic range that gives you only the impression of warmth, but in long time listening is excactly the opposite.

i suggest you to do long listening that’s a complete track with MR and than the same track with CMR.

i don’t understand why you listen CMR cooler then MR, probably is your tweeter, i don’t know why.
i have also Mundorf silver/oil and is the cooler of the three.
probably i'm wrong, but i hope someone else who tried CMR respond.
please let us know :)

Hi audio4pass,

I measured and simulated the effects of the bypass caps. There's no perceptible change in phase or amplitude. I can't explain the added ...not necessarily warmth, but liquidity, in the midrange by adding the 0.1uF cap.

I agree, the Mundorf SIO is the coolest cap.

I also think I like CMR better than the Mundorf SIO, but it remains cooler than the MR to my ears.

I'll give you an example. I use a Mytek Brooklyn and Oppo 103 as my sources. With the MR they both sound pretty good. With the CMR at times, the Oppo sounds harder. This was never an issue with the MR.

<< shrug >>

Clarity MR and CMR remain my favorite "affordable" boutique capacitor. I would not trade anything from the Mundorf lines for them. We'll just differ on where we put them in relationship.

Best,

E

And thanks everyone for playing with me regarding these caps. I'm going to leave this project alone for a long time.

Perhaps if I get a sponsor to try some much more expensive copper foil caps I'll come back.

Best,

E

thank you erik.
a question: in the bass region MR vs CMR ?
you report high freq fatigue from CMR, but the ovreall timbre between both ?